COLONIAL GAS COMPANIES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4199, 4 September 1874, Page 3

COLONIAL GAS COMPANIES.

THIS THAMES. The half-yearly meeting of tho Thames Gas Company was held last' week. ' The directors’ report and balance-sheet were extremely satisfactory, inasmuch as a dividend' of six percent. on the half-year’s operations was declared. A brief outline of the history of the company is thus given by the Southern, Cross ; ■ About three years ago the company was floated by some of tho most enterprising men of this city and the Thames, with a capital of £25,000 divided into 10,000 shares of £2-10s. each,' Out of this to tho present time 88s. has been paid only, and the sum called was found amply sufficient to purchase a splendid plant in Glasgow, to erect tho necessary buildings at the Thames, and put the whole establishment in thorough working order. All this has been done for tho sum of £IB,OOO. It is only necessary to bestow a glance upon the balance-sheet presented to tho shareholders yesterday, to perceive the marked progress of tho company, and its present and probable future prosperity. Not only has a handsome dividend been declared, but wo understand that the company . has not a single debt, besides having in stock over £BOO worth of coals. The plant now ordered for. this company will be, we learn, one of the most complete, this side of the lino,

and capable of producing four times the quantity of gas at present required in the municipality. The consumption of gas in Grahamstown is daily on the increase. It is understood, also, that it is the intention of the Grahamstown municipality to erect street lamps at once. WESTPOUT. The effort to establish a local Gas Supply Company in Wbstport (says tho I hues) bids fair to be a success, and the proposal is one that needs little recommendation to public approval. Gas for lighting and other purposes is becoming an absolute necessity wherever a number of people are permanently located, and in Westport, just as elsewhere, the need is obvious. Greymouth first set the example among the coastal towns, and shares in the local company have, from the' first commencement of operations, commanded a premium. At Hokitika, similar results have followed; and now in Westport there is no apparent obstacle to a similar success. The town has at last been permanently built, the population is increasing, and under Municipal rule, the highways and byways of the Borough will gradually assume the characteristics of practicable thoroughfares. That the two thousand shares at £5 each, forming the stock of the company, will bo easily disposed of, there is little doubt. A thousand, at least, should be taken in Westport, and for the rest the outside„publio will thenquickly apply. The advantages a local company will command in the cheap and easy procurement of coal, are too obvious to call for remark.