THE LIGHTING QUESTION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 420, 6 December 1911, Page 5

THE LIGHTING QUESTION.

SPECIAL MEETING OF COUNCIL

IN FAVOUR OF ELECTRIC LIGHT

The special meeting of Te Kuiti Borough Council, convened fur the purpose of dealing vv : th the question of installing a lighting system in the. borough was. held at the Borough Council Chambers on Monday evening. There were present—-His Worship the Mayor (Mr J. Boddie), Councillors Forsyth. Sims, Y'oung, Finlay, Hardy, Somerville, Tammadge, Julian and Lusk.

The report of Messrs J. J. Niven and Co., which has already been published in the Chronicle, was read by the clerk.

The Mayor at the conclusion of the report <jaid he wished to move a motion, but did not propose to occupy the time of the council to any extent in recapitulating details with which they were all familiar. They bad heard an exhaustive report and whether it met with their preconceived ideas or not they could safely grant that it could be relied upon. The report in effect thoroughly bore out the recommendation originally made by tne council and proved that the basis from which they had worked was correct. Petrol gas was about the cost of electric light, and the adoption of petrol would necessitate much less responsibility on the part of the ratepayers. In dealing with the question ho in company with Crs Lusk .?.nd Hardy had gone very fully into the whole matter and they had correspondence and reports which were valuable. With respect to petrol gas there was no doubt it was an illuminant that had to be considered. It was also satisfatory for heating and cooking purposes, and he had no doubt it was the best for consumers. If the council was satisfied it was all that was claimed for it, and he could not see how it could be otherwise on the reports, he felt they would be studying the best interests of the ratepayers. The report having been furnished by a firm which was unacquainted with petrol gas would be likely to have a bias, if any, in favour of electricity, or coal gas, in connection with each of which the firm was well-known. However, in face of that the report was highlv favourable to petrol gas. Te Kuiti had the opportunity to instal the cheapest light in the known world. Not only was it cheap to instal, but it was very inexpensive to run, and they would be relieved of the necessity for expert labour. Everything considered he saw no reason for departing from the previous recommendation. He moved: That the system of petrol gas be adopted for the lighting of the town. He trusted the motion would be discussed in a perfectly friendly, frank and open manner and when a final decision was reached it would be satisfactory to all. Cr Lusk, in seconding the motion, said he did not propose making a speech on the matter. It had been fully discussed previously and an-im-mense amount of information had been plar-ed before them. He quite agreed with the Mayor's remarks with, respect to petrol gas and the advantage would be to residents, of Te Kuiti. From the point of view.of cheapness, ease of installing, and., .the important point of household utility the gas was the best for the town.

CrSims. What amount of loan has been provided for lighting? I take it that any scheme decided upon will have to be placed before the ratepayers, as a larger loan will be required to be sanctioned in order to even install petrol gas. The Mayor: I don't think so. We have a standing offer to install the gas for £2BOO and this includes certain work which could be done by the council. At the outside the installing of Dreadnought gas could be Hone for £2600 which was only £IOO in excess of the £2boo already provided, and this could easily be adjusted without a further loan being necessary.

Cr Forsyth pointed out that they were taking Niven and Go's, estimate for the various systems and it was only reasonable to take it for petrol gas. On the estimate in the report they would certainly require to goto the public with proposals for an increased loan.

Cr Finlay said when the matter first came up he was strongly in favour of Dreadnought, but when the representative of the DeLaitte system came along with his criticism of Dreadnought, his (the speaker's) faith was shaken. Ha turned his attention to other systems with a view to acquiring as much knuwleige as possible in the interests of the ratepayers. He went to the best authorities he could find and the conclusion arrived at was that as far as gas and electricity were concerned these sys- j terns were entirely satisfactory. Petrol gas svas essentially a new thing and more or iess experimental while the others were well tested by time. Taking the financial aspect into consideration there was, on the report basis, not a very great difference in the respective costs of petrol gas and suction gas electricity. There was an offer before the council to install the electricity for £4400 but apart from that electricity was in vogue not only in one tow-i, but in twenty in New Zealand alone, while it was in common use. the. world over. Further more, the electric systems were returning a profit and there was nothing to quarrel with in electricity from the point of view of financial investment. Another important feature to be considered arose from the fact of the scattered nature of the population of the Borough. Owing to the physiI cal features of the town this would probably be the case for a number of years. The. ease and cheapness of extending electric light rendered it incomparably the best system for giving the light to the scattered inhabitants of the'suburbs who would probably not have a hope of getting gas. This feature was a highly important one as it was advisable that the borough should supply as many as possible. He would move as an amendment the borough be lighted by electric light.

Cr Julian, in seconding the amendment, said he had heard a great many opinions expressed by tin 3 ratepayers and considered the majority were in favour of electricity.

Cr Forsyth supported the amendment and pointed out that on the figures of the report the gas was going to cost the consumer 12s (id per month, while electricity w;;s going to

cost Os 4Ad per month In the maitrr of power it was a well established fact that electricity was preferable, being much cheaper for small installations. Later on, if the b'g Government hydro-electrical scheme materialised it could readily be adapted to local requirements without further expense.

Cr Lusk said there, was lit lie use in making: a speech on the puhjerl. The councillors had all made up their minds on the subject, and there was nothing to be gained by protracting the debate further. Cr Finlay said he had omitted one or two points in the report,, which said in one instance that "if the borough prefers to install the cheapest light for the present," petrol gas is recommended. Further on the report suggested that a substantial bond should be entered into by any firm installing petrol gas. The fact that such stipulations were considered necessavy indicated a lack of confidence which \va3 significant and tended to the opinion that Niven and Co. were not quite satisfied as to the petrol gas. According to the report the borough was advised to take out an indemnity policy of insurance against the gas. Cr Tammadge said it had been held that petrol gas was in its infancy and was susceptible of improvements which ultimately would be of further benefit to the consumers. Electricity was also in its infancy and improvements were continua'ly being made. It was undoubtedly the power of the future, and he would support the electrical system for Te Kuiti. Cr Sims agreed with Cr Lusk that each councillor had made up his mind upon the report and rightly so. Personally he thought Cr Finlay had put the matter in a nutshell with respect to petrol gas and he should not be surprised if the council should decide unanimously to adopt the electrical system.

Cr Young supported electricity. He said he had seen it in a good many towns and it had always been satisfac tory. The Dreadnought was a good illuminant but not a good cooking or heating agent. The Mayor, in reply, said that with respect to the criticism referred to by Cr Finlay against Dreadnought gas by the De Laitte representative had to be greatly discounted, as it was made by the keenest opposition firm's representative. However he coukl quite understand the doubt inspired in the lay mind by any criticism There was no question that the Dreadnought had come to stay whether To Kuiti adopted it or not. Regarding the financial aspect of the question there would be a considerably greater cost in installing electric light and they had to take the risk of it paying. The chief concern of the council was to see to the street lighting and while doing that if they could go further and supply householders they had power to do so. A point had been made with respect to the ease of extinguishing electric lights in the streets. That was just, as easy with gas by the use of a pilot light. He contended that the report showed plainly that electricity for power was too expensive unless sufficient, was used to keep the plan turnning the whole time. The point raised by Cr Lusk with reference to the use of gas for cooking had not been taken into consideration, and it. was most: important. As to the stipulations referred to in the report in connection with Dreadnought hecould not see how they could be construed into meaning that; the light was unsuitable. The report naturally made certain prefatory stipulations safeguarding the council. This was wise, but did not bear the construction referred to. As far as he was personally concerned he had gone into the investigation of petrol gas. sceptical, and had been surprised at the resulcs. He believed the council would be justified in adopting petrol but if a majority of the council had made up their minds for electricity he had nothing more to say. The amendment was then nut, Crs Finlay, Young, Sims, Forsyth, Tainmadge and Julian voting for it. and the Mayor, Crs Lusk, Somerviile and Hardy against. Cr Finlay moved that a hearty vote of thanks bo accorded to the Mayor, Crs Lusk and Hardy for Mi.? great amount of work and time they had devoted to the question. The motion was seconded by Cr Sims and carried. In replying to the. vote the Mayer said he took the motion in a friendly spirit. He differed keoniy from the majority of the council in the matter, but that made no difference as to the terms upon which they stood. He thought the councillors should be included and instanced Crs Young and Forsyth as having devoted time and ability to the subject.

Cr Hardy, in reply, said that what had been done was a labour of love. The three lights were equally good the ehief thing being a question of expense. Many of the arguments used against petrol gas would not hold water. It was no new thing and he had used it with success for lighting and cooking. Cr Sims moved in the direction of obtaining a report by an electrical expert the motion being seconded by Cr Forsyth.

The Mayor said he thought the council could with the information already before them agree upon an amount to place before the ratepayers as necessary to install the electric light, lie thought they should not incur any more expense than was absolutely necessary.

Alter further discussion Cr Sims withdrew his motion and a resolution moved by Cr Finlay and seconded, by Cr Tammadge agreeing to assess the cost of installation at AU)O(H) was carried.