South Canterbury Times, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2471, 18 February 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1881.

Among the local enterprises that are ■displaying, in spite of the dull times, a steady and prosperous progress the Timaru Gas Work deserves to be assigned a prominent place. For years past it has been travelling along the ladder of wealth at the rate of 22s Gd per thousand feet, lees a graduated scale of discounts ranging from 5s to 7s Gd per thousand. In addition to this there is the meter rents, a certain source of income ; for they never vary, but burn into the pockets of small and large consumers alike, without so much as a conscientious flicker. The affairs ■of the Timaru Gas Company are well •managed, if not for the consumers, at least for the shareholders, and it is the shareholders that the directors have to study. The investment during the past year has produced a dividend of fifteen per cent, and left a very substantial balance to bo carried forward. It is satisfactory to find that there is at least one joint stock concern that can hold its head erect alongside of the money lending institutions of the colony, and that the manufacturers of negotiable paper are not able to monopolise all the charming dividends to themselves. The Timaru Gas Company has produced a balance sheet which investors in articles more tangible than gas—land for instance may very well envy. They have turned over their money in a lucrative style, and out of distilled coal and dry meters they have conjured up a gross profit of

about 30 per cent on their capital in one brief year. If the directors go on as they are doing, combining good and economical management-with first class charges, the light of their profits must glow brighter and brighter until the

company becomes—next, perhaps, to the Bank of New Zealand—one of the most wealthy concerns in the Southern hemisphere. There is, unfortunately, one danger to which gas companies are exposed, and it was probably this that one of the shareholders had, like Hamlet, .in his “mind’s eye” when he submitted that heavy profits, fat dividends, and magnificent reserves were necessary precautions against accidents. For some time past the gas manufacturers of the world have been menaced by a scientific invasion. Already their lights have begun to pale before the fire kindled by Edison and other inventors. As an illuminating agent the electric light threatens to supersede everything else. The only difficulty in the way of popularising this wonderful agent has been to distribute and regulate it in such a manner as to to answer domestic as well as public purposes. This obstacle, we are told is being overcome, and it is quite possible that before the present year grows old, a lighting medium will be presented before which the gasometers of the universe will have to collapse. We are told that during Christmas week two systems of electric lighting were tested in New York, and that Broadway was illuminated for three-quarters of a mile by a series of Brush lamps, fifteen in number. The lights were remarkable for steadiness, hut seemed too widely scattered, being 2 02 feet apart. Halfway between the two lamps one could read a newspaper. The circuit contained ten thousand feet of wire. Each light was estimated at two thousand candle power, supposing the full force to be concentrated on one point. The lights burned all night, and the exhibition was to continue for one month, to enable the Company to determine the question of expense and to familiarise the public with the light. Mr Edison has given a similar exhibition of his system at Menloc Park, for the benefit of the Mayor and Common Council of New York. More than three hundred lamps gave a steady, mellow light, tinged with enough yellow to relieve the eyes from the intense brightness of the electric light. This then is the danger that the Gas Companies have to face. If their dividends are large can it he said that they arc too large under the circumstances ? Electric Light Companies are in rapid course of formation in America, Wall street and Printinghouse Square in New York are to be lighted up by this means, electricity being furnished as a substitute for steam power. The introduction of the electric light movement from America to New Zealand is simply a matter of time. The practicability of the new light has apparently been demonstrated. No wonder that Gas Companies should decline concessions and stick tenaciously to their meter rents. They are quite justified in making hay while the sun shines, for the time may be limited. In view of the hazardous character of the Gas Company’s operations, the handsome dividend that the shareholders have voted themselves can hardly be termed excessive. The old light is already beginning to flicker, and who knows hut in a few months the gas that for years has rendered such excellent service to mankind, may be permanently turned off in favor of a far more brilliant and much cheaper competitor.