The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-15 00:00:00

t......,_..._

TRE GAS QUESTION TN

CHESTER.

MEETING- O'F

rOWN COUNCIL OF

CHESTER,

(IWN REPORT'
ThB monthly meet PROMg
OUR
of he gettereit7 Was held atin the tO
any

welock , yeateraay: •
dtno•ng the questions,
Lotion to take int-
kittee apeoh,*

mge;

lit city, at:eleven

Mit was a

a einnany, for ,
So
Oer Gas Light Comp,
is:eine ordinary and
routin,
of in the first instance.
report of .the committee ap,
ith!!nell of the amalgamation. -of the
tat_ read. Its report stated that the • co,
UrelY considered .the application for
tom, amalgamation,
fon° ended to the conned to give their con t.on the
co% wing conditions. First.—That the capitaleseezilfi6thoe, old
of ceI24TY, after such purchase, should not exc4td.
Second OO
paid up to the time of the
tot,,o„t the company should ent
tiureFii7 gaa to Public and privet(
That 71.,,t0 be ascertained by
act _ price of gas to
11,„,
,rteeed 4s. lid. per
e"pZ,ltitie charge for public li
at in the schedule.
eir ow, ono.
Pality Pror
gEter.... gc-
zj.rled upon.
rat facture gas at
tat, eft° be fixed
ti thtc,"° Power to te cent that if the plea,
lbothi°lll 131vards, for three successive yelr?, the counci
price ue at liberty
kretn' and te reduce it. ' of th
to re-consider the conditions
irreggardinf
Ninth, that the repa
the ex:" of the streets should be
an of
of the gas-company.
to at, liaenld call upon the comp:
aik,eja
heef the outlying districts, so,
toatel annexed to the „requirement. Eleventh, that the
the;" theold have the power -of inspecting the hooks
_oi,
Itle;tll3loe.Pa.nY- Twelfth that in all cases of _dispute the
ter,p7 should •be 'referred to . arbitration, iipou
in of the acts of parliament referring thereto. And
the 0- event of the council confirming this recommendation,
,e;:rilLittee recommended further that the matter should
ttePs, ar:u to a subcommittee, to consider the necessary
weiecangements, acts of parliament, or otherwise; by
ttirilhe Proposals were to be carried out.
sad g entY Cutter presented a memorial from ratepayers
.
station "'lsomers of St. John's ward, against the am
Ward, Sirtidar memorials were presented from St. Mary's
frorn st."ghton, Trinity,and St. Oswald's wards. That
w
o ghtou John's as sigd by 89names, St. Mary's by 101,
The (-)7 67, Trinity by.: 91, and .t;t: Oswald' by 133.
and worr,lists stated that they looked with great. suspicion
if it t4rin at the proposed amalgamation, considering that
Ithic7ere assented to, .a t monopoly would be established,_
that ‘,47,4-hit nd to raise the price r's 'rhey conceived
great far,`l great coal fields
°f thefor the transfer of the coal ir.to theveryhear
there ;',ItY, and the 1.-,y/ price at which gas could be produced'ftha
rsant;i:,°' Places had greater .or equal, advantages
.oar
vas
aumeie fact Places
of gas, and therefore th `^is present price
consent iltlY high, and prayed the
The°ut anything which mig'
lepartMaYor proposed the adoption au,.
"trtoi ""'uerston seconded-thereselntion. He thought it
certath-'fiserj"7 Ty desirable thst.the ' be 'frilly ells-
-411,-,,,therefore, 'although he reserved to himself, to a
n.teeoterc:r.lent,' the privilege of not fully sanctioning the
rotighttation made by the committee, icasmuch as be
4t the b-11113 of' them required further consideration, yet,
si,inaireerPose of bringing the one material question of the
uattpl.„.,",fttio of the two companies before the council, he
etily-'li4 Pleasure in seconding the motion. The first and
11,f thetViaLquestion was in reference to the amalgamation
ais„rst th-e;°„e°lllPanies. He presumed that the object, when
ttike-„ttheil granted permission to the second company
the tn,..russession of.the streets for the purpose of supplying
tliev-Zll- Nrith gas, was that by introducing competition
obtain for the citizens a supplyof gas at a proper
tie j wzollable price. .The council them-'
that 4„ „t 11„ en Proposed the Si) e-'
Unit uu- Ishould
et an, .
titta.tal CP
U%

uncil was

to consider-the

mpsoies was

havinz

obligation to

of the best
6 Third.—
ners. should

Fourth.—

;, to be fix

.eafter to
should no

1 to 10

counci

heir main

ble condition

me reas

thbold its

ht tend

increase it

confirmation of the

yes, and the par-

amstanc

44- Wag Permitted; the p
that Pert, he never colt,.
Nit, Condition was propos2d.
wertaq.not supply gas at 411. 6d. while
ittids,ln existence, considering the, amount of gas consumed,
hone himself thought it might be .a question whether they
slie'l oldco supply it at that price with tne competition which
u
no,sti present: However they were not called unpoot,
beta"nto consider whether the price was to be .raised or feeling
that se in the eonsrnittee'tbere Was a very decided..
Aerttl?° reason could be ellen why, if amalgams!Aono77
ttit ii!ed, there should he: any' increase in the pricei took
place
it quite 0,
bOhla "'e eeattaryi.and that if any. alteration' 1
Lad sa.;', be a reduction. . atear, hear.) 11 Viithdr:' tßc'ra the trouble of consid•'
Ras rii,„-!;11, the pron.—'

le two companies

Salisbon

the eo
wo corn
tWo flourish
thapert a large dividend. r
ainalga
•upree.,•- •niU'ion

_fin tenlaln

COtifi;i 1.0 ‘,...
tii,iT On Led 4
at all :-
had elati
°f 4 net
that tine allthotifV
thereforee ad heard the s
eino that there must
Were ll' elPeose and
the
wertineed, in the end one or 'ie ------
Detitinael. Was Le fact must be that during the time the c.odmer:
able 1„-'' 'l'as goinrs forward, it must have been at cons'
in
Sad ;4 to botliparties. Now, if the city could step
Alrejeci?,,e
.ithat the citizens would not be in any way
Lie ce id not'
b Permitting an amalgamation to take place,
Fieph4 (I s why the council should not give its ennsehn .. ceetereße they consider it this way :—at present the city d
ItiPpl'eul "er one of the companies which was bound to
`Nee ', MI at 4s. Gd. per 1,000 feet. The other company
Peteltic_t under any such conditions. If then they wereme
Posittr,'ll to azialearnate both would be placed in the same
140, and the emal clad to gamated company would be
ill farrit•lg censumers at 43. 6d ? The town would beg placed
tile -ci.'e, a better position than before, inasmuch as whente coetioltolend rose to the amount of 10 per cent, 1I 1,4 redl'u could then enter into an arrangement for
:8 d -TT'. in the price. To some of the details
-kreediti not quite agree. He thought before £5O
lwas
404
Oho On as the amount of capital, some vuentz-
lohie;,lll,l 1)3 ea tle upon the Dart of th?
elesti' did not believe had been done yet, and it should be eepe l'certained what would fairly represent the amountint
Iltleted, 11 the new company, and the amount the I)
'tear )'Nfl of the old company were now worth. (Hear,.
lot se'. With regard to the extension of the -mains, he did
by the -,,141Y any. concessions should be made upon that point
'4l, nsett,ocils or that by the amalgamation they should_.
Lttee --):4 Coneefle any of the privileges they now possessed
4astinii; 'ear ) Under the belief, however, that an amalga-
*ottle,', P°ll proper terms, would benet theyl he
*a tiec",l the resolution. The only obj'ct. .al 'had
tis?,llBe:Rittli°of :le" the best for the town, and if this could be
"liot world jut.i.og parties who had embarked their cap
: etr b rneet Etta views,
qta si,..,"°h'rt Frost said, one point to which the memorial-
•-.1,Z-lected—that of a probable advance in the price of gas
h- now removed by the resolution of the committee,then
NI •
tlie,, .in fact, placed the consumers in a better position eee,'„ occupied before. They had at present the two
eir-,,,e4Oies competing. Suppose by an unfortunate
feCkatance the Roodee company should eventually prove a
b pl.""!. The city, in that emergency, would have to fall
hoarda-"into the arms of the other company, which was not
1/Y any condition as to price; and judging from their
be , Perienc,,
of
past, they might judge of what 7111
ue tt e the future.- (Hear, hear.) By sanction-
•
ill ' experience of the
k tile amalgamation,' the
tinder of company would be placed
eqna, an agreement never to c 'e more than 4s. 6d., and
ebtn,tluently a security, whirl had not now, would be
env,' ,
rs
led for the consume. • -on bow, by the
efot7,aulation, the city won
derahl have the chance of ga
thee le' On the question of the e..
an (I.ut it would be very well that th.
tntnaPti;lll°ll that day. He _would not vote for the athal-
eity -,"', if any of the rights and privileges which the
ear,)'')" Possessed, were to be infringed upon. (Hear,
port rie contended that if the council gave up any.
Of tin of their right with regard to the extension
Pate:" Maio; they would sow the seed of many future (In-
es', g • 14_ with the company.
t --tr,Th'• Cutter thou ht the sum of t 50,000 very exorbitant
I;4n'e as capital.g. It was well known that if works were
ieeee eranienced, they could be erected for a sum not
llaveed,4l! 30,000, and why were the citizens of Chester to
hert2o,oo,a7ged out of their pockets a sum of 10 cent., on
r., -,above what they could erect works fpoerr? (Hear,
• ' it es— •
ei

I clear,

for two or three years

com petitio

on, and that if it

while it

ry const-

on of the mains, he
council should give

emed t

ount they were to

rueived it for three sue-
would then be

position to

fronLtheir

teßsi7e _ that Lila,
~,e uPon —RI
50,000, and if they re
rfid Years, the council would then
tioileeee the. present price. Now, it was wel,
eco proximity to the coil fields, that if
Of rd's.lllY were exercised, gas could he produt
{reef,,., heater for three shillirzs per 1000 cubic fee In many
s throughout the country which had not the famitae
114 city of Chaster afforded, gas was manufactured at that
it- ee• As to the question of amalgamation, everybody.
blllew that in nineteen cases out of twenty, amalgamation
ti.e.allt--, what ?
tooMnopoly I (Hear, and cheers.) He would
"'" Qe a party consent to such a step, until at least