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

THE LIGHTING OF THE PUBLIC LAMPS.

Deputy LOTT 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 was 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-
tion, 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. JOSEPH Daw, the p: incipal clerk to the Commission,
read a communica, ion he had received from the Chartered
Gas Company, forwarding a return of gas shown to have
been consumed in the metered publiu lamps which had been
agreed to by the officers of the Commissioners of Sewers and
the company'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 experiments of the commissioners
showed it to merit. The directors regretted to observe that
notwithstanding their anxiety on the subject, and the con-
stant measures used, the quantity of sulphur in the gas ap-
peared from Dr. Letheby's test to be still slightly in excess
of the Parliamentary maximum, but the attention of the
directors would not be relaxed, and they earnestly trusted
that before long a plan might be devised which would re-
ceivo the approval of the commissioners, and obviate fur-
ther complaints.

Tho CrcalumAN could not understand the language used
in the first part of the letter, and ho said ho thought is was
not of a character that one public body should use towards
another. The commissioners 'were the representatives of
the public, and they had the
Politest difficulty in getting the
company to supply gas of the requisite illuminating power.
(Hear, hear,)

The Engineer to the Commission (Mr,
Wu. HAYWOOD)
said he had no doubt of the cot rectness of the company's
return as to the consumption of gas where there had been
meters, and the commissioners might be quite sere that
wherever meters were affixed the full quantity of gas would
be given. (Hear, hear.) It
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 affixed 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. FAILLOW said the gas lamps
in some parts of the City
were more like rushlights than anything else. (Hear.)
Deputy FARRAR 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 quality of the gas were found to
be so satisfactory by the officers of the Commission, and the
lights in the public and indeed the private gas lamps so de-
fective he could not understand. He should like to have
some information upon the subject.
The Medical Officer (Dr. LETIrEI3Y) stated that there were
two or three testing%
regularly every night with regard to
that was supplied by the companies,
and there could be no doubt that the illuminating power of
the gas supplied at the present time was considerably better
the quality of the gas
than formerly. Indeed, in former times, while the illumi-
nating power was not Mare than 10 or 11 sperm candles, they
had now an average power of 14 candles, which was consi-
derably
If, therefore, there was any deficiency of light, it must be
that the quantity supplied was insufficient. The quantity
in access of the Standard of the act of Parliament.y
was becoming less year
b eat, owing to the deposition of
matter in the gas pipes anydYfittine's, which obstructed the
gas in the burnets.
passage of the Whilst this matter was
under consideration, he
by I‘lr. R(Dutr;el4r,would call attention
to a pamphletßlack Rock Works,
Brighton, „ upon the subject of the supply of gas to the street
lamps. no did so withjgreat Pleasure, because that gentle-
man was an authority pen the subject. He expresses his
opinion as follows:--1, That the contract system is wrong
in principle and inequitable in practice. 2. That the only
ot Letheby) e
theby )
proper teethed for supplying gas to street lamps is by meter,
a separate meter to each larDP. 3. That preparatory to the
use of meters exclueivel
3 ' and until various local or other
special obstacles are removed.ved. a system of meter averages
mieht be advsntageousi edopled. 4. That all the arrange-
ments for lighting scree
should be •
under the control of
local authenties. 5. That the only means by which the
lighting of streets will be neutered in a satisfactory and
economical manner is by estaltlishing and maintaining
friendly feelings between the respective representatives of
gas companies and local authorities. 6. That improvements
in column lamps, d
a-justing taps,burne: s, regulators, meters,
the
and patting out gas, and of fixing and
trans of lighting
protecting meters, should be sought for, encouraged, alai
subjected to impartial exaolinatiens and experiments.
The matter then dropped'
The Principal Clerk laid W01'04:10 Court a precept from the
Metropolitan Board of Works calling for the sum of L 14,268
las. 4(1.) being the amount of the charge upon the City to-

c 1864.

wards the g-eneralcxpenses of the board for the year. Thif:
anieunt is greatly in excess of the charge made last ye ;c.'.
The subject was referred to the general purposes conitilit,
tee to consider and report.