The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 10, 1862.

THE GAS QUESTION.

(Rom tlw Observer.)
Now that Parliament has met, the gas companies
and their opponents are girding themselves for the
fight, for fight it will be, there is no mistake about
it this time. For once the companies have an an-
tagonist, in the shape of the City Commissioners of
Sewers, who is able to compete with them. The
companies have succeeded hitherto, simply because
they had unlimited funds at their command, and by
an arrangement they mutually agreed to pay the
expenses pro rata, and then charge them upon the
unfortunate consumers who had dared to oppose
them ; but now the case is widely different. The
City Commissioners of Sewers can expend what sum
they please, and can fall back upon the ratepayers.
In the last contest it was not so. Sir John Shelley
undertook the cause of the consumers, and fought
the companies almost single-handed ; although
several of the metropolitan parishes subscribed,and
were represented by delegates, he had to bear the
brunt of the contest. The money was given grudg-
ingly by some parishts, and absolutely refused by
others, and therefore, with inadequate funds and a
divided council, it was much to the credit of the
hon. member for Westminster that he succeeded as
he did. Now, however, the case wears a widely
different aspect. There are funds ad libitum, and,
moreover, the Parliamentary support which gene-
rally attaches to any proposition connected with
the City of London, and which was not afforded on
the last occasion, will not be wanting. The com-
panies have taken a fatal step by so directly and
snddenly showing themselves in their true colours.
Common prudence should have taught them to bide
their time in repaying themselves for Parliamentary
expenses. If they had allowed a year or two to
elapse before they raised the price of gas, in all pro-
bability the committee of delegates appointed to
watch the gas question would have been dissolved,
and all their organisation at an end. But so strong
apparently do the companies imagine themselves
that they think they are able to set all ordinary
precaution at defiance, Their error, however,
they were not long in discovering, and it is firmly
believed that, in the reopened investigation into the
supply and cost of gas to the metropolis, which is
about to take place, they will find themselves placed
in a very invidious position. They seem entirely to
have overlooked that among the records of both
Houses of Parliamant are to be found the shorthand
writers' notes, not only of the evidence given, but
also of the speeches of counsel, and the pledges made
by them and the Parliamentary agents. When the
coming investigation takes place, of course these
little records will be brought up before them, and
the committee of the House of Cemmons will receive
a practical lesson as to the difference between
pledges given and pledges fulfilled. It will be easy
to be shown that in almost every instance the com-
panies have strained the powers given'them by the
act to the utmost, and that the specious promises
made by them have been almost wholly disregarded.
The City Commissioners of Sewers are well aware
of this, and are prepared to meet them in fair fight ;
and, as far as it appears at present, it seems difficult
to understand what defence can be made before the
committee of the House of Commons, supposing it
to be constituted during the present session as it
was during the last. It is true that they will have
the assistance of the ablest counsel whose services
money can purchase ; but even with all their ability,
acuteness, and plausibility, it is very much doubted
whether they will be able to wipe off the accusation
of breaches of faith with the promoters of the last
act.
By a reference to the law reports, it will be seen
that the City Gas Consumers' Company have a legal
right to increase the price of gas. By their original
act they were bound to a maximum of 4s. per 1,000
feet. No sonner was the Act of 1860 passed than
they contended that it overruled their own act. The
company therefore raised the price, but as the con-
sumers considered that the new act did not empower
them to increase the scale of charges, some of them
declined to pay, in order to raise the question. This
has been now determined. The Lords Justices
have decided that the second act overrides the first,
so that until fresh legislation takes place, the con-
sumers have no other course open to them, and must
pay whatever the compensation may demand.
The bill of the City Commissioners of Sewers
will be proceeded with as early as possible ; but it
will be many weeks before it comes out o com-
mittee. Every opposition that can be brought to
bear will be offered by the companies against the
bill, but their efforts will be principally directed to
the insertion of insidious clause, which, primafacie,
may, appear trivial, but which, taken in connection
with other clauses, may be most pernicious to the
consumer. This was the case in the last bill. When
the act received the royal assent it was believed
that the consumers had gained a great triumph, and
the companies professed to having been beaten—
although, at the same time, they know practically
they had obtained greater powers than before.
Their great success was the legalising of the district-
ing system, which conferred upon them an absolute
monopoly. The consumers from that moment were
bound hand and foot, and now or never is the time
to relieve themselves from the thraldom under
which they are placed. If the consumers will not
find money they can hold public meetings, and thus
give moral support to the promoters of free trade in
gas. The City Commissioners of Sewers require
every assistance. It is not because they are apower-
ful body that they ought to bear the whole brunt
of the fight. The city forms but a very small por-
tion of the area of the metropolis, and the City Com-
missioners of Sewers, if they do not receive sub-
stantial support from the rest of the metropolitan'
districts, may possibly feel themselves justified in
only obtaining legislation for the City proper,
which they represent, and then further legislation
would be required, and further large sums be sunk
in Parliamentary expenses. Of the ultimate result
there can be but little doubt. The companies may
succeed even now in baffling the just demands of
the consumers; but they may rely upon it that they
will be allowed no respite until they are prepared
to act in an honest and liberal spirit towards their
consumers. The days of monopolies are over—in
fact, the word ought to be struck out of the die'
tionary, for even the most bigoted Tory that exists
must admit that it is impossible to check the cur-
rent of free trade, and the supply of gas cannot be
made an exception.