IS ELECTRICITY, AS A LIGHT, PRE-EMINENT?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 269, 13 November 1901, Page 2

IS ELECTRICITY, AS A LIGHT, PRE-EMINENT?

10 188 BWSTOB, Sir,—Usually m«re things happen which are not thought of than are in a preamble designed, and consequently ■ in such cases, often the ifsue does in no wiee tally with expectations Not very long ago thou* in cinn-ction with municipalities and large establishments were everywhere hankering after this mode of lighting, which was rspre-s-nted as transcending by f*r and away any other known luminant. Now a period sets in where it ia not held quits in as high a favour. Inasmuch, as from time to time we now learn from all over the globe of civic b >diet and large firms returning at a heavy sacrifice to their old love - namely, coilgas! This being a cheaper and evjui much brighter article, by virtue of incandescent burners than that of the atmospheric generator. Realising the impression which such tastaooes of mutation conveys, w,a«ld it he wise just at present to lauooh this borough inco a burdensome expose for the mere Rake of, falling into line with some of our, purhaps, more impressible neighb urn? Would it be advisable to further saddle the taxpayer for what may bj considered a questionable result ? Would it not be as well for sometime to come yet to play a waitiag game, to se« what j further developments in (ho. way ofi light the ingenuity of thjaera m,iy produce. An proverb says; " Those whom the g°ds most favour are, those, who waif. a,nd watch the passing of current went*." Soon, it may be assumed, the bulk of corporations will follow the lead of Glasgow, Birmingham, and o'her sagacioutly-maD-aged municipalises by calling in the aid of profii-yieldng concerns, such as the establishing of tramways, lighting, cheap r.-frrshments, publio baths, and soon. The latter of thess could in up-to-date style be institu'ed for something less than ons-third oi what it would take to provide, an electric phnt, which, when provided, m*y not yield the sat'sfoet'oa which its advooites oalculate upon; whereas public baths have been proved to have b.'«a< the nucleus of the KW»l!ing into prominence and into cpulenca mmy erstwhile unimportant sea-coast vilhges.—Yours, etc., A. Hood,