Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Thursday, January 26, 1882.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1028, 26 January 1882, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Thursday, January 26, 1882.

The importance of some steps being taken for lighting the streets of Gisborne during the long winter evenings is forcing itself upon the attention of the Borough Council. On Tuesday evening next, Councillor Lewis will bring on for discussion his motion upon the subject. The danger and inconvenience to pedestrians who have to plod their way up Gladstone Road, ■or to any of the by-streets, on dark nights, when the roads are sloppy, is so great, that the Council are fully justified in the interests of the ratepayers in expending a reasonable sum in having our streets lighted. As the district has not yet attained that degree of progress to enable the manufacture of gas, the ratepayers must necessarily be content with such an amount of street-illumination as may be derived from the flickering flare of kerosene lamps. The development of our petroleum springs would furnish the town with a cheap and ready means of procuring the lighting necessary for the streets. In Beechworth—the prettiest town in Victoria—the experiment of lighting the streets with gas generated from petroleum was lately tried, and the result has been beyond what was expected. The invention, as will be readily believed, is of American origin, the patentee being William Smith, of Pittsburgh. The works for carrying on the process, are, from the data at hand, simplicity itself. They consist of a gasholder, an oilwell, a condenser, a retort-house—in which are two beds of retorts, four in each—and a purifier, besides one or two attachments of minor importance. The petroleum is poured into eight small retorts —there being two furnaces. As soon as the oil enters the retorts it is immediately decomposed owing to the intense heat It leaves the retort in the form of gas passing through water. All impurities are by this process considered sufficiently removed. The gas so made passes on to the holder where it is stored for use. Some idea may be obtained of the value of petroleum for illuminating

purposes when it is known that one ton of it is equal to eight tons of coal. But this is not the only advantage possessed by petroleum over coal for gas-making purposes. Tested at different exhibitions it has been proved that the illuminatory power of gas generated from petroleum is three times greater than that obtained from coal. The original cost of constructing works and the gross annual cost of carrying them on, where gas from petroleum is manufactured, shows that the latter possesses vast economic advantages over the old mode of making gas from coal. Whether petroleum gas would be well adapted for lighting large cities like Melbourne or Sydney it is difficult to say, but there can be no doubt that for country towns it is admirably suited. Assuming that three miles of mains, twenty street lamps, and seventy-five services and meters would suffice, for some time to come, to provide illumination for the main road and the principal by-streets, basing the estimate upon the cost of the Beechworth works, the amount required for erecting works in Gisborne would be about £3,250. Adhering to the same estimate the gross annual cost for working the whole concern should not exceed £250. Working one day for eight hours, should be sufficient for manufacturing a week's supply of petroleum gas. How far this approximate estimate approaches accuracy may be determined from the fact that petroleum in Beechworth, costing one pound five shillings a ton for freightage is bought for one shilling a gallon. The Beechworth Company intend to affect a great saving in procuring a better class of burners. The Shale Company in New South Wales has undertaken to supply the Company with oil at 6d a gallon, which may possibly suit. The oil, in order to avoid the cost of packing in tins will be placed in large tanks. With an improved style of burner, and the supply of oil from New South Wales, the Beech worth Company estimates a reduction in the cost of gas for lighting purposes, from 33 to 50 per cent. The contractor for the Company’s works at Beechworth, had entered into preliminary negotiations with the embryo Gisborne Gas Company, for supplying the necessary plant, and from the success achieved by that Company at Beechworth there can be no doubt that if the Gisborne Company were to become more vivified, easier terms could be made with the Melbourne contractors. In the meantime, however, Councillor Lewis’s motion should not be lost sight of.