GAS HOLD-UP

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3133, 11 July 1917, Page 6

GAS HOLD-UP

NO DEVELOPMENTS YESTERDAY

ANOTHER GASLESS NIGHT

Ihere was no change in the tas situation yesterday, and promptly at 6 p.m. the gas was cut off again tor a period of U hours, for the simple reason that ■the new bands cannot do the sumo amount of work as the ones they have succeeded. The situation, it is pretty well assured, -will be ditferent by the end of the week. As anticipated there was quite a rush for alternative cooking appai-atus yesterday at tho hardware stores in town, an opening which the shopkeepers were not slow to take. Some of them made special displays of kerosene and spirit stoves and lamps, and went to the pains of giving demonstrations to show their economic i tility iu a timo like the present. Needless to say, business was brisk. So it was with the coal-merchants, who wero hard put to it to fulfil all tho orders that chased one another over the telephone and counter.

At the Government Printing: Office, where a good deal of night work takes place during the session, the absence of gas has been very severely felt, and it is doubtful if the staffs will be able to keep pace with the work under emergency conditions. Some of the restaurants, which have depended wholly on gas have had a worrying time. Some of them have rushed electrical equipments as the only possible alternative, and, with | private people who have depended on gasl heaters, have fallen to the lure of the electric radiator as a cold-feet preventive. KITTAWA STILL HELD UP. No attempt was made yesterday to get labour for the discharge of the Kittawa's coal for the "Wellington Gas Company. In this regard it is anticipated that Uio Goverment will take action. The Gas Company burns 130 tons of' coal a day, and whilst it has enough in hand for a few days, its stocks must be replenished. ECONOMY URGED. ' It must be taken for granted that the company would not' curtail supplies of gas if they had it to sell, and that- they —the sharehote&fs—must suffer more than anyone else by the trouble. On the other hand, the company wish the public to assist them as much as possible by studying economy in the daytime. By so doing they will assist the company .and the community in general in tiding over a trying time. Complaints were received yesterday that the gas pressure was not very satisfactory. For the first half-hour or so it may not have been, owing to the amount of air that gets into the mains and pipes after a total cut-off. Later on in the day the pressure was approximately normal; THE CHAIRMAN IN EXPLANATION. The chairman of directors of the Wellington Gas Co. (Dr. C. Prendergast Knight) feels that it is only fair to the company's many clients and the Board of Directors to say that it was not until 2 p.m. on Monday that he became aware that it would Ire necessary to cut off all supplies of gas for the night at (i p.m. The manager. (Mr. Dougall) had wished to cut off at 5 p.m., but, in view of the many people who would be dependent on the company for the preparation of the evening meal, he decided that they should keep on until 6 p.m. As soon as that decision was made a clerk was put on to the telephone, and was engaged tho whole of the afternoon iu ringing up those people whom it was considered were most likely to be seriously affected by the cutting off of the gas. They, might have been able to do more in that direction, perhaps, if it had not been that the town staff was depleted by some of the hands in town having, volunteered for action at the Miramar worte. He, personally, regretted extremely that the company was forced to take the step it did, anil the public should rest assured that were it not absolutely necessary,

such drastic action would never have been taken, as the directors were aware that a largo proportion of the company's 16,000 customers would be inconvenienced. ' ''WHAT ME. PATNE SAYS. Mr. John Payne, M.P., gave notice in the House yesterday of the following question, addressed to the Minister of Labour: "Whether he will inquire into the conditions under which the stokers of the Wellington Gas Company (Limited) have to carry on their work; and whether he will see if the worn-out parts of the machinery could not be duplicated in New Zealand, as even if these' parts cannot be made as cheaply as similar replace parts imported from Germany, the men might bo in a position to -pursue their always very arduous work without having to periodically face- theterrible ordeal of going into hot furnaces to remedy defects?" By way of explanation he adds this'upte: The machinery imported from Germany by the Gas Company has become worn out, and the war has rendered it impossible for new parts to be obtained from Germany. . When the machinery goes wrong the men have to play water on the coke until it is cool enough for them to crawl over and remedy the defective parts of the machinery, which necessitates the men having to go through what is practically a red-hot oven steaming with the fumes of the watered cokj.