Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1898. THE RIVAL ILLUMINANTS.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2109, 2 June 1898, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News TH U RSDAY, JUNE 2, 1898 . THE RIVAL ILLUMINANTS.

In every department of science in the term ‘ progression ’ may jbe found the key-note of the present situ ation; but progression is perhaps too mild a word to apply to a struggle success in which is being constantly crowned with such magnificent rewards. Lifting the veil that hides from the gaze of the vulgar the arcana of the great laboratories of Europe and America ; withdrawing the.curtains concealing from the world the chambers in which such men as Edison, Tesla, Marconi and a score of others scarcely less noted, pursue their experiments with nature’s occult farces the struggle laid bare to our eyes would; rather resemble a , persistent and relentless war. Nor is the warfare confined to the laboratories., Take the discovery of a new illuramant on which it is said many a scientific genius to-day is- v (jbficentrating all his energy and actifojeiw?t Something of which it could be said that it Was an admirable Bubstitute for,&unlight. And this, by the way r . is: a 1 subject in which we burgesses of Te Arotia may be said to be directly interested just how as we are on the eve of adopting one or other of the various ijiuminants in the market. Electric lighting, as far as we are able to judge, is beyond our reach, The initial cost of erecting a generating station in the hill country and installing the light being on the dictum of an expert too heavy for our youthful borough to face. For the sake of argument then let us tale one of the newest of the newer iliuminants—acetylene gas—for which, its advocates ate making such extravagant claims that if one half of them is correct, it Mfill undoubtedly constitute the light for the next quarter of a century if for so long, judged by the rate at which scieuce is progressing. After a period of experiment abd uncertainty : the system of lighting by acetylene gas produceil from carbide of calcium seems to have, been finally accepted by such scientists as-Lord Kelvin; the highest authority in the world, we may remark, en passant, as being technically feasible and. under easily understood conditions, safe and economical. In fact the insurance companies' may be said rather to encourage the introduce tion of this light than otherwise, their former opposition having entirely faded out of a horizon which at one time appeared very threatening to the advocates of the new illiminaut. As we remarked however, rivalry does not end at the laboratory doors when the finished article is placed on the market, and the rivalry among the scientists is a chivalrous passioa as compared with the sordid unscjfpulous cunning permeating the world occupied by rival trading corporations. Every new light has to run the gauntlet of the millions of wealthy investors who have put their money into it’ forerunners, such as coal gas and electric lighting, and acetylene seems to have had as rough a passage as most of them. But where scores have foundered acetylene may be said to have emerged triumphant. The report of the English Home Office which states ‘ that whilst liquid acetylene compressed beyond 1£ atmospheres is liable to explosion, acetylene generated direct from carbide in an ordinary gasometer is just as safe as any other illuminating gas,’ and this decision on the part of the English Home Office is confirmed by that arrived at by French and. German authorities. We do not propose to constitute ourselves advocates of the introduction of acetylene into Te Aroha. We have read .and reread the trade .pamphlet on the subject,. and its authors seem to have, made out a strong case and to establish on independent testimony all that they claim for it.