GAS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 237, 6 October 1871, Page 2

GAS.

To the Editor or the Nelson Evening Mail. g IEj — Since' the'days of Dr. Hales, Dr. Clayton, and others in the early part of 1700, when gas was first supposed to be made by 'destructive distillation of coals, no other material has been introduced amongst us that could bear (competition with the same for.simplicity and cheapness as au. illuminating power. We are, however, indebted to the able chemists of our own period for the improvements in the "science of its purification as it must be. understood that the different coals supplied for that purpose require different manipulation to produce th 6 required result, economy, in that department. An Auckland paper asserts that the price of gas is much cheaper with them than in any other town in New Zealaad and that it is still more so if the quality of light per thousand feet of gas is considered; it also states that an inferior gas can easily be made by using only ordinary coal. In order to give a superior illuminating power, tbe Auckland company use a proportion of cannel coal, costing in Auckland about £4 per ton. I am not aware from whence they derive their supply, or the kind of coal they use, beyond the above statement, but from practical experience gas is still the same whatever coal it is prepared from if properly purified. I shall not deal with the probable cost of purification or tbe choice of coal for its production but often find that deficiency of light from gas arises through carelessness or the want of chemical knowledge of the material in use. Gas requires in its preparation chemical as well as mechanical skill, the former at all "times, the latter, in the economy of aparatus and the proper means of conducting the supply. In England, where almost every village is lit up with gas, the character of the coals in use is known, if not, application to the scientific chemist is made, which could not be expected in a. young colony.. Had the Auckland company made use of our provincial coals such an .effusion would not ■[ have appeared in their provincial press, showing as it does, a .want of common sense. .»•:..,*■ .. We are possessed of that, material in 'abundance, which would! supply the whole of the colony with gas as pure as any cannel coal to be found elsewhere. I am, &c.,' J. W,. Tatton.