The Globe. FRIDAY AUGUST 20, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1417, 30 August 1878, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY AUGUST 20, 1878.

If there bo ti question just now which, without fear of exaggeration or without even the trace of conveying the veriest of a joke, may bo termed a burning one to tbo citizens of Christchurch —it is that affecting the amounts which they are called upon to pay every month for the use of the gas furnished by tbo Gas Company. Complaints have been rife on all sides for some time past, as to the undue increase which gas consumers have found in the totals stated in their monthly bills. Comparisons have been mado in reference to what gas bills wore when set in juxtaposition with claims made by the company for similar periods of last yeai’, aud we believe that, iu most instances, the result of tho test has been that there was a singular iucreaso iu the price charged lately. Furthermore, a rumour has found its way among people supposed to bo entitled to bold substantial opinions on the subject, that tho quality of tho ai’ticlo had not been such lately, as to warrant tho assertion oftentimes mado by the officials of tho Gas Company, that their implied contract with their clients was fully aud faithfully carried out. Wo may say at ouco that wo have mado duo inquiries into tho matter, and that, iu regard to tho quality of tho gas issued to consumers, it has certainly, for many mouths past, been such as to entitle tbo Company to every credit for the manner iu which it performed its bargain. While, in London, for instance, the lighting power of tho gas furnished to the denizens of tho huge city has been regulated, by local enactments aud otherwise, to tbo tune of “fourteen candles” illuminating power, that of the Christchurch Gas Company has never reached below a standard of seventeen candles, and in fact has reached for sometime past that of nineteen and nineteen and a half caudle “power.” But it is on the question of gas consumption as between the company aud their numerous clients, or as between vendors aud vendees, that w r o wish to say a few words. As we remarked before, there is without a doubt a wide-spread feeling just now among a not inconsiderable portion of the community that there is some screw loose iu tho manner iu which tho gas management secures tho results which lead them to claim moneys from tho consumers for work done and services rendered, l c., for the amount of gas it avers is supplied to them. Wo may say that iu many instances huge consumers have been astonished at tho quantity of the material daily furnished to and expended by them, and at the claims made upon them which have not iu any way proved to he in accordance with what they were sure they burned. And then when comparing notes with tho officials of tho company, tho vexed question has invariably resolved itself into one involving tho correctness or veracity of tbo gas-metros supplied to tho consumers, audit is there that doubts begin to arise, aud queries cease to be answered by tho proprietors of those most important self-recording instruments. Further" than this question of the undeniable truthfulness or otherwise of tho company’s metres, it is under the

existing state of things impossible to go. To establish the position which wo find ourselves most unwillingly coin polled to assume reference to a notorious gas case which lately exorcised the judicial, as well as the public mind, in Dunedin, will doubtless bo heard with interest. And it is a case when, after a protracted and carefully got up trial, (ho mysterious indications of that very mysterious instrument, the gas-metro were more than over allowed to remain unexplained to the public eye. A certain Dr. Borrows sued the Dunedin Corporation for an alleged overcharge of gas supplied during the month of April, and which he had paid under protest. The claim made by the doctor was for the difference in price between 3000 ft. and 30,000 ft. of gas; an enormous amount it can bo seen at a glance. His usual monthly Dill had boon for something like 3000 ft. and ho was suddenly confronted Avith a claim, for a similar period, of ton times that total, Avliilo, furthermore, it Avas conclusively proved in evidence that, during the mouth in question, ho and his family had absolutely been absent from the house, OAviug to some repairs being executed there. In reply to the claim for this overcharge, the Corporation proA r ed that the quantity of gas it demanded “ had been duly registered by the metro ca the premises, and that the onus of proof that the metro Avas incorrect rested upon the consumer,” Judge Bathgate, Avho tried tho case, took that view of tho position, but. finally, and after a lengthy and patient hearing which was adjourned for several days, ho, notwithstanding, gave judgment against the Corporation in favour of the gas consumer. Tho case Avas indubitably an important one, and one of a most extraordinary kind. Not a single thiAV or detioctiou oven could lawyers or Judgo find in the voluminous evidence brought forward on each side. Tho contending parties stood on tho merits of tho case purely, as testified to by the facts, and tho decision arrived at was entirely based upon the assumption that, notwithstanding tho fact that the gas-metre had boon proved to bo accurate in its registering, it ought not to exclude tho consideration of tho probabilities that something had been radically wrong in tho check existing somewhere between the gas vendors and their customer. From 3000 ft, of gas per month to 30,000 ft. is an enormous step, and Mr. District Judge Bathgate chose, in default of any specifically definite evidence on either side, to take a common-sense vieAV of tho case, and virtually throAV the onus of proof upon tho gas officials. Wo have not drawn attention to this certainly singular case, and to its no loss remarkable decision, for tho purpose of pointing out a moral. As a matter of course, of moral there is none to deduct; and, as far as the gas consumers and the Corporation of Dunedin are concerned, tho result of tho trial has not thrown tho slightest light upon the position of affairs. The general question which Avith us also, in Christchurch, requires ventilation, has not been settled in any way. There, as well as is tho case here, the conviction may still bo on the consumers’ mind that they pay for ever so much more gas than they burn, and notwithstanding the tacit blame Avhich tho recording metres furnished to tho public receiA'ed at the hands of the Dunedin Judge, there is absolutely no tangible proof shoAving that these important registering-machines are at. fault Avhen proved to bo in good working order. And on this subject of gas, tho grioA'ancos of its consumers, their alarms as to what may mysteriously befal them, and the probable remedies for those grievances under the existing state of things, avo shall have more to say on a future occasion.