THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5, 27 April 1914, Page 5

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

MR T. BOYLE S OPINION.

[To Tub Editor Stratford Post.] Sir, —The torch of intellect is ablaze, and municipal concerns are assuming vague outlines in the minds of burgessses who are comparing and contrasting the issues surrounding the choice of a future Mayor. Up to the present, it does appear that there is no question of serious contention between the present Mayor and the other aspirant, except that of obtaining a license over the lighting of the town far a period of forty-two years. I have conversed in a somewhat boisterous manner with those who profess to be familiar with every aspect of this question, and to me it is apparent that the sanction of this license, which possesses all the peculiar essentials of the worst form of monopoly, would be transferring to a private company a right which could be made an ever-increasing source of income to the ratepayers of the town and country. Last Saturday week I listened with some impatience to an incoherent outline of the Company’s case, made by- the Chairman of the Company, and though he, with a certain measure of native astuteness, strove to palliate the true position as claimed by the other side, yet it was clear that he and the rest of his Company are out to cajole the ratepayers into sanctioning the license and thereby handin goevr an asset of inestimable value. I know feeling between the Company, their .supporters and the opponents of the license, is very bitter, and in some cases valued friendships are suffering severe tests, but these relationships must always be where a Company is seeking to secure a privilege which historyvand experience have proved to be at variance with the best interests of a community. In the near future electricity will be applied to all forms of industry, and used widely for domestic convenience, so that its rising value is difficult to estimate. The wise course for the burgesses and settlers to follow, is to unitedly denounce and oppose every attempt of the Company to obtain this license. Every ratepayer who cares to examine the records of this young Dominion will find, without troubling over the history of older countries, hundreds of instances sufficient to convince every unbiased man and woman that it would be an act of folly to even consider such a proposition as the granting of a fortytwo years license. Every settler in the County has a right to the advantages of electricity, and every settler has a right to a share in the ownership of the plant that supplies those advantages as well as a right in the voice-of control, and if a Httle patience is exercised it won’t be long before an initiative stop will be taken to secure to the burgesses and settlers within the County the ownership and control of an up-to-date plant. Feeling being so strong it would he unwise, at the present, to attempt any consideration of the Municipal and County ownership of a plant, but it would be wise for every ratepayer to watch every move of the Company now controlling the electric supply and prevent any advantage towards the.piltimate securing of the coveted license. It may be suggested that I should be silent on the question, but as I live within the boundaries of the County and thus within the operating area of the proposed license, I claim the right to exercise an opinion with the same freedom and frankness as any supporter or member of the Company.—l am, etc., THOMAS BOYLE. April 27th, 1914. [Our correspondent is in error in one fact, at least. Mr N. J. King has publicly stated his disapproval of a forty-two years’ license being granted to the Company, and his intention of opposing such license.—Ed. “Stratford Rost.”] '