The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-13 00:00:00

THE LIGHTING OP THE PUBLIC LAMPS.

Deputy Lorr laid before the Court a letter he had received
from an inhabitant of the ward represented by him, com-
plaining of the lighting of the public lamps in the City.
The worthy deputy expressed great dissatisfaction at the
application of the carburetting process to the lamps, and he
said, seeing the strong feeling there wee on the part of the
public against it, be thought the Commission should make
some other arrangements. They as the representatives of
the public must not allow any crotchet of their own, which
they might entertain with regard to the process in ques•
Hon, to lead them to do anything contrary to the wishes of
the citizens. (Hear, hear.) He moved that the matter be
referred to the General Purposes Committee, to consider
and report.
The motion was at once put and agreed to,
Mr. JOSEPIL DAW, the IT incipal clerk to the Commission,
read a communication he had received from the Chartered
Gas Company, forwarding a return of gas shown to have
been consumed in the metered public lamps which had been
agreed to by the officers of tie Commissioners of Sewers and
the cora
pally's chief inspector. The secretary in the letter
expressed a hope, that as hitherto no opportunity had been
lost of cavilling at the manner in which the company was
supposed to fulfil its duties to the public, it would now have
the credit which the exp,!riatents of the commissioners
showed it to merit. The directors regretted to observe that
notwithstanding their anxiety on the subject, and the con-
stantpeared from Dr. Letheby's to be still slightly in excess
of the parliamentary raanaurci,
but the attention of the
measures used, the quantity of sulphur in the gas ap-
peared
directors would not be related, and they earnestly trusted
that before long a plan might be devised which would re•
ceive the approval of the commissioners, and obviate fur-
ther complaints.

The CIIAIRMAN could mt understand the language used
in the first part of the latter and he said he thought it was
not of a character that one }ublic body should use towards
another. The commission-3ra were the representatives of
the public, and they had thee'reatest difficulty in getting the
company to supply gas of a:requisite illuminating power.
(Hear, hear)

The Engineer to the Ceerniseion (Mr, WM. HArwoon)
said he had no doubt of the eoirectness of the company's
return as to the consuraptiok of gas where there had been
meters, and the commissioners might be quite sure that
wherever meters were atfixei the full quantity of gas would
be given. (Hear, hear,) :e appeared from investigation
made by Dr. Letheby and himself that the light was not so
good at the lamps where there were no meters. With regard
to the carburetting process, upon investigation they found
that where the carburetors were of seed the light given,
with 3 cubic feet of gas per hour, was equal to that 5 cubic
feet in the other lamps. He stated further,that where there
was imperfect light it was attributable either to defect in
the naphtha or in the gas supplied by the companies.
Mr. FARLOW said the gas lamps in EOlOO parts of the City
were more like rushlights than anything else. (Wear.)
Deputy Fe.ftuAt said the lights at the present time were
nothing like so good as they used to be. How it was that
the illuminating power and qualify of the gas were found to
be so satisfactory by the officers of the Commission, and the
lights in the public and
de-
fective he could not understand. He should like to have
some information indeed the private gas lamps so
upon the subject.
The Medical Officer (Dr LETUEBY) stated that there were
two or three testings
regularly every night with regard to
the quality of the gas that was supplied by the companies,
doubt and there could be to
-01.11)t that the illuminating power of
the gas supplied at the
present time was considerably better
than formerly.
Indeed,
ie. former times, while the illumi-
nating power wee not More than 10 or 11 sperm candles, they
had now an average Power of
14 candles, which was consi-
derably in aeces.s of the standard of the act of Parliament.
If, therefore, there Was a deficiency of light, it must be
that the quantity supplied was insufficient, The quantity
was becoming !pee
Year by year, owing to the deposition of
matter
in, the gas pipes and fittings, which obstructed the
passage of the gag in
the burners. Whilst this matter was
under consideration, he (Dr. Letheby) would call attention
to a pamphlet by kr. Rutter, of the Black Rock Works,
Brighton, upon the subject of the supply of gas to the street
lan4B. He did so With great pleasure, because that gentle-
meet Was an authority upon the subject. He empresses his
Opinion as follows 1. That the contract system is wrong
in principle and ins
uitablo in practice. 2. That the only
supplying peeper method for gas to street lamps is by meter,
separate meter to eh lanlP" 3. That preparatory to the
use of meters exclusively, and until various local or other
special obstacles are removed, a system of meter averages
might be advanteeeouslY adopted. 4. That all the arrange-
ments; for lightin:steeets should be under the control of
local authorities. 5 That the only means by which the
lighting of streets will be rendered in a satisfactory and
eeeraunical manner by establishing and maintaining
friendly feelings between the respective representatives of
gas companies and local authorities. 6. That improvements
in column lamps, adjustiug taps, burners, regulators, meters,
the means of lighting anti patting out gas, and of fixing and
protecting should be sought encouraged, and
meters for,
subjected to impartial examinations and experiments.
The mat ter then dropped.
The Principal Clerk laid before the Court a precept from the
Metropolitan Board of Worts calling for the sum of £14,268
16't 4d., being the awe t the eherge upon the City to-

wards the general expenses of the board for the year. This
amount is greatly in excess of the charge made last year.
The subject was referred to the general purposes commit-
tee to consider and report.