THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AND GAS COMPANIES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5520, 5 December 1878, Page 3

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AND GAS COMPANIES.

(From The Times, October 4). Investors in gas companies' shares, a very considerable class, have lately been disquieted by rumors of a formidable competition. The beauty and the power of the electric light have been made familiar to the vast numbers of English people who have visited Paris during the past five mouths, and have been more recently exhibited on a smaller scale in the Strand. It is natural to inquire why so brilliant and pure a light is not brought into general use, for street illumination at any rate, aud the inquiry has been answered in a sanguine spirit by a host of enthusiasts. The discussion apparently produced something like a panic amongst the holders of gas stock, which at one time fell heavily in market value. A movement of this kind sometimes becomes more impetuous as it proceeds. Man is an imitative animal, and investors, when they are ignorant of the technical details connected with the condition and management of their property, are ready to follow the example of any who seem to take a decided line. It is, of course, undesirable that a species of property so valuable and widely diffused as gas companies' stock should be flung away in the recklessness of vague alarm, but it is equally undesirable that, if the conditions of public lighting are to be wholly revolutionised, investors should be encouraged to cling blindly to a system that is doomed to succumb to a more powerful rival. The revolution, if it is one day to bo effected, may be rendered less sudden and inconvenient if those who are interested in the old system will take pains to master all the possibilities of that which is destined probably to supplant it. We are gl id to see, therefore, that at the half-yearly meetings of two important London companies the question of the electric light was brought forward and some interesting information made public Further inquiry is to bo wished for, and it should be directed nob so much to the scienufio as to the ec momical aspects of the new system. The statements made by Mr. Leng at the meetings of the London Gas Company and the Phconix Company may, perhaps, be controverted on some points, but they seem iu the main to comprise all the elements of encouragement which investors in gas stock can derive from a survey of the present situation. It is now generally admitted that the practical claims of the electric lighc must be taken seriously into consideration. A few years ago it was spoken of as a costly toy which could never be brought into -use on an extensive scale. The experience of Paris has completely disposed of this refusal to look facts in the face, and the directors of gas companies almost universally admit that in certain places, and where expense is a secondary object, the new light can hardly fail to be ultimately adopted instead of gas. The long and wide thoroughfare extending from the Place de X'Opera to the Place du Theatre Frangais in Paris is now permanently lighted on the electric system, and the effect is in every way admirable. Londoners, also, have been able to form their own opinion of the plan from the lamps displayed in front of the Gaiety Theatre. The clear white light, putting the yellow and flickering gas-lamps to shame as completely as gas would put to shame oil-lamps or tallow candles, has won general approval. At the same time certain objections have become apparent. The brilliancy of the light and the deep shadows which it casts can only be endured in largo open or covered spaces. For u?c in shops and dwelling-houses, or even in churches and theatres, it would be necessary to mitigate the glare by mechanical appliances that would involve a great waste of illuminating power. Nor would such waste be a matter of practical insignificance, for at present the cost of obtaining a certain quantity of light is calculated to bo ten or twelve times greater under the electric system than with gas-lamps. Moreover, in all the improvements of the electric light which have been effected, or even attempted, inventive ingenuity has hitherto failed to provide the means of lowering the light from time to time, or of readily subdividing it. Yet until the electrip light can be adapted to domestic uso iu this way, it is tolerably certain that gas will hold its ground. Indeed, gas has been, and still is, making fresh conquests every year. Larger quantities are being consumed and new uses are being found for it. For cooking purposes its increased consumption is very remarkable. It is, therefore, quite within the bounds of possibility that, even though the electric light should be extensively employed for street illumination, the gas companies would still have as large a business to do as they have at present. If tho whole of the street lighting were taken away from the gas companies, it has been stated that tho gross revenue of the principal London companies would not be lessened by so much as one per cent. But, as a matter of fact, the electric light in its present form, and especially at its present coat, is npt at all likely to bo introduced for street lighting generally; for narrow and crooked thoroughfares, for courts and alleys, it is, indeed, quite unfitted. For broad streets, spacious squares, and tho like it would bo admirably adapted, if only our municipalities could be induced to pay a high price for the luxury. According to a statement made by tho chairman of tho Pbeonix Company, tho lighting of tho Avenue do I'Opcra, in Paris, which cost £BBS when gas was used, costs £10,625 with tho electric light. This enormous difference would naturally induce tbff London veitries and the provincial municipalities to pauso befoyo embarking rashly on tho new project. Wo shall probably sec before long a few of our largest squares and broadest streets illuminated by electricity— Trafalgarequare, doubtless, and Palace-yard, Rogentstreot, and Pall-mall—but rather as a piece of justifiable cxtrayagancothan aa a precedent for further extensions, Any experiment of the kind would bo valuable, because it would multiply opportunities for discovering and

applying improvements, but it need not, for the present, alarm the gas companies. These are, in substance, the chief topics of consolation which were addressed to the shareholders at the recent gas companies’ meeting by Mr. Leng and others. We do not intend to make light of them, but wo. must poiut out that they have only a temporary and contingent application. In the first place, with respect to street lighting, it is acknowledged that, other things being equal, the electric light would be far preferable to that of gas. The question of cost alono stands iu the way of the general adoption of the system which has been found to work so well in Paris. Whatever may be said against the electric light within buildings, there can be doubt that it is at once safe and pleasant iu the streets ; it pours upon everything a flood of whito radiance like that of a “ harvest moon, but it does not hurt the eyes with its glare, unless, indeed, it be looked at directly and persistently. But the question of cost is one that is always open, and may at any moment be solved in a sense favorable to the electric light by some modification of the present mechanical system. No invention involving the introduction of a new principle is needed for this important step in advance, and if it were to become possible—if, for instance, such changes were made in the system as would enable the electric light to be supplied at the same price as gas—there would lie an immediate and irresistible demand for the abolition of gas-lamps in all tho principal streets, the parks, and the squares. Foi this loss the gas companies must hold themselves prepared, and, furthermore, for the possible loss of the custom of many largo manufacturing establishments, railway stations, and the like. In these the electric light will certiinly not bo adopted while it remains ten or twelve times as expensive as gas, though if it wero to be brought to the same level, or near it, the old system would have no chance of being retained. But tho question of cost, however solved, would not affect the introduction of electric lighting into narrow areas—such as shops and offices, and the rooms in private dwelling-houses. The difficulties which stand in the way of its general adoption for uses of the latter sort are not connected with the cost of producing the light, and there is noindication as yet of the manner iu which inventive skill will, no doubt, ultimately overcome them. To deal with those difficulties we shall need not merely improvements in existing machinery, but a totally new method of applying the illuminating power of electricity. No such method may be discovered for many years, but, on the other hand, it may be discovered at once, and, if combined with a cheapening of cost, it might well happen that gas would be driven out of the field, or, at any rate, forced into a secondary position. This danger, we admit, depends upon many “ ifs ” and a remote and complex contingency. Still tho gas companies and investors in gas shares will be wise in not leaving it altogether out of their calculations. There Is no occasion for panic, but only very sanguine people can contend that the ten per cent, dividend on gas shares is nearly as safe as the three per cent, dividend on Consols.