THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 192, 12 February 1912, Page 3

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Sir,—As the poll i 9 close at hand, will I you allow me to urge on my fellow-1 ratepayers the necessity for doing a bit j of hard thinking about the Council's j scheme to get hold of the electric light J business. Even without going deeply into the matter I think most people vyill be glad to hear that the concern is likely to be acquired by some new owner who will give some consideration to the public. No one can say that the company has ever given full value for the money collected from the consumers. One thing they are very good in. They never forget to send a man up to read the meter. They never fail to get their money in. But apart from his usefulness in that particular, the consumer doesn't interest the shareholders at all. The > light supplied is very poor, and on Saturday nights it is awful. You would think that any electric light coilcern worthy of the name would be able to supply the ordinary requirements of the business' people, but it seems to me that this will fiever come about in Stratford until the company sells out to someone else. I am not expert enough to say, whether £ 14,000 is too much to pay for the plant. and goodwill, but I do think it would \ pay us to give even a lot more than its actual worth in order to take the business out of the hands of the preseilt proprietors, who are only running it to make the most out of the public for the poorest service that the people will put up with. A few people who oppose the scheme are making a tremendous racket 1 about it, and say we ought to have nothing to do with a scheme that gives only 100 volts. That . may be, but I would warn my fellow-ratepayers that this is only claptrap. If it were decided to change to 220 volts, as these people say we ought to, every installation in the town would have, to be ripped out, because the higher voltage current has to be carried in steel tubing, while our low volt system is safe enough in wood. Then all our electric light lamps must be heaved on one side, too, because they would only explode if connected with higher voltage. This doesn't really affect the issue as to whether the Council should get hold of the business for us or not, but I think it is as well to meet this argument that is being used on the Streets corner by Che little opposition coterie. I think that if we are to go on progressing we must get this light suppi}' business into the hands of a good, live borough council. We can kick them out if they don't give us a good light, but the company has a monopoly, and ratepayers are powerless to shake them up.—l am, etc., RATEPAYER.