The Globe. TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 860, 27 March 1877, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1877.

By a majority of one the City Council has decided to take a vote of the ratepayers on the question of acquiring Mr. Morten's section in Colombo street. By so d- ing we think they are putting the citizens to unnecessary incouvenience. We are certain what the result will be. The citizens of Christchurch are evidently determined not to incur further liabilities in the shape of rates in the present circumstances of the city ; and notwithstanding Cr. Hobbs's figures, the great majority feel convinced that such will be the result, if the undertaking is gone on with. At the meeting of the Council yesterday Cr. Hobbs at last supplied the information which is to satidiy every ratepayer of the soundness of this financial undertaking. After giving a history of the negociations for the purchase of ten feet of the section, he went on to show bow the Council could acquire the land at no cost whatever. He said he bad received an offer to lease the Colombo street frontage at £7 per foot per annum, which would bring in £093. The Hereford street front at the fame rate would produce £441, and that facing Cathedral Square £315, or a total of £1449. He ' puts down the cost of the land at the highest estimate, at £20,000, the interest on which at 0 per cent, and sinking fund

at 1 per cent would amount to £I4OO. He thus shows that in forty years the property wonld be redeemed at no cost whatever to the ratepayers. If £30,000 were borrowed, £IO,OOO of which

was to be spent on buildings, the result would, he said, be equally satisfactory. Now if the Council could acquire the site for the sum of £20,000, little could be said against the proposed investment, as a financial speculation. But has Cr. Hobbs a right to assume that the Council can obtain it for such a sum ? Will the arbitrators value it at the sum which could be raised on it on mortgage ? As an investment Mr. Morten may be able to show that it would pay him well if he only received for the present 3 per cent from the land. Its prospective value would no doubt be taken into account. It is a well known fact that Mr. Morten purchased the section some years ago for a few thousands, and now the Council values it at £20,000. Has not Mr. Morten a right to anticipate a similar increase in value during the next fifteen years ? And would not the arbitrators take this into account in arriving at a decision. We would point out that if the matter goes to arbitration the Council will not be able to withdraw from the purchase should they find that the price is greatly beyond the estimate, and it is quite within the bounds of probability that the city might be called upon to pay not £20,000 for the land, but nearer £40,000.

The lighting committee of the City Council, we are pleased to notice, have recommended an extension of the time of keeping the lamps burning in the city. They recommend that they should not be extinguished till three o'clock in the morning. As we pointed out, some time ago, the city is, at the present time, thrown into total darkness just at the time when light is most required for the safety and convenience of many of the citizens. We hope, also, the eiforts of the committee will result in an extension of the lighting of the city. There are many localities which have recently become very populous, which are greatly in need of additional lighting, and if the G-as Company cannot see their way to extending their mains to those localities, perhaps the Council might look about for some other means of lighting. The following extract from the Scientific American gives au account of a new system of gas lighting, which may be of interest to our readers at the present time:— There is in operation in Jersey City a new system of gas lighting, abolishing gasworks, and machines which produce gas by the passage of air through, or mingling air with, hydro-carbon vapour. By this system no gas pipes are required; the gas generator is situated in the burner, and the invention reduces itself simply to the means of sending the requisite gas-producing material to that point in each post of fixture. The entire apparatus consists of an air compressor at some central locality, several small tanks (one to each post) laid under the side walk, a small air tube from the reservoir, filled by the compressor, to each tank, and the pipe from the tank to convey a petroleum product to the burner. This simple plant is to be substituted for the elaborate manufactories, gas houses, miles of piping, and innumerable metres, required under the existing system. The tanks are of galvanised iron, with coppsr top a"d bottom, and each holds forty-eight gallons, that quantity of oil being rather more| than a six months' supply for a single burner. The hydrocarbon used at Jersey City is a benzine of low value, and for which there is but little or no industrial employment. It is f d into the tank through a hole in the top, which is accessible from the side walk by a scuttle with an iron cover. The cost of the system has been ascertained by the actual working of eight street lamps, each using a a six-foot burner. The experiment had extended over thirty-five days of ten hours each, and the consumption of benzine was found to be eight gallons for each lamp. The present price of oil in America is ten cents per gallon, which would give a total for the eight lamps of six dollars and four cents. The aggregate number of hours is 2800, so that, with the burners used, 16,800 ft of gas were consumed, giving the cost of the gas used about 38c per 1000 ft, a mere fraction of the average cost of coal gas.