A LITTLE LESSON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 143, 26 September 1910, Page 4

A LITTLE LESSON.

The dealers in electrical goods who waited upon the Mayor of Wellington recently seem to have presented to the public perhaps inadvertently, a very effective illustration of the of municipal trading (says the Lyttelton Times). The Wellington City Council generates and sells electrical current which is used very extensively in the capital city for lighting and powier purposes. A branch of the service is the importation and retail sale of filament lamps, which are offered to the public at the price of 3s 6d each. The deputation made a protest against this invasion of the domains of private enterprise, and stated that in Dunedin the lamps were sold at 7s 6d each. The reply of the Mayor was.that the Council could land the articles at 2s 8d each, and that he would not allow the sale price to be raised to the Dunedin level. I n other words, the Wellington authorities are making a profit of 31 per cent., and do not propose to tax the citizens to the extent of nearly 200 per cent. Of course the inner details of trading operations are generally more or less of a mvsterv to the public and it may be that some unconsidered factors, such as breakages and rejections, make the Council's rate unprofitable. As the Times says, it is by no means probable that the "business r aUage the m ™cipal affairs pf Wellington are going about their task in any mood of careless philanthropy, and a hberal allowance for contingencies ™ U .!<J «!* \ e llk «ly to amount to the additional charge of 4s, a lamp, apparently regarded as desirable by the private traders With this little lesson before them the people of Wellington mil be glad to see their City Council extending its activities along the lines which are already so popular in manv of the citiei oi Great Britain ana Hauope.