The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-26 00:00:00

THE CITY GAS QUESTION

The following communication, addressed by the
Secretary of the Great Central Gas Company to the
Chairman of the Court of Sewers, was then read:
" Great Central Gas Company, 45, .Moorgate-street,
April 24.
" Sir,—The attention of this company has been called
to a letter signed P. J. Barham,' addressed to the Com-
missioners of Sewers, in which the City Gas Company
excuse themselves from giving their promised answer
respecting the reduction in the price of gas, on account,
as they say, of the promoters of this Company's Bill
having delayed its progress for six weeks.' lam de-
sired by the directors to lay before you the accompany-
ing statement, just issued by them, from the concluding
paragraph of which you will perceive that the
delay which has taken place has been occa-
sioncd by the old City Gas Company. In conse-
quence of an objection raised by their counsel, the com-
pany was compelled to ask for an adjournment, or to erect
their works within the limits of the City—an alternative
to which, as economists and citizens, they could net
under any circumstances consent. I am likewise de-
sired by the directors to state they are unacquainted with
the objections to the mode by which their engineer, Mr.
Croll, proposes to lay the mains, upon which Mr. Bar-
hatn desires to afford the commissioners soma informa-
tion, and they req”ctfully request leave for Mr. Croll
to be present, if the purposed interview is to take place,
in order that he may receive and give the fullest infor-
mation upon this subject. By a clause to be introduced
in the Bill, as prepared by the officers of the commis-
sioners, this company's main will be laid under the su-
perintendence and crontrol of the commissioners; and
the directors are most anxious to acquire information in
the mode of effecting these neces ,ary operations in a man-
ner which shall provide for the public convenience in the
most ample manner, and in confortnity with the wishes
of your officers.—l have the honour to be, Sir, your most
obedient servant,

" T. P. BARHAM, Secretary pro tem.
" To the Chairman of the Commissioners ot Sewers."

Mr. WILLIAMS said he considered that it was quite
right that Mr. Croll should have the opportunity of
being present at the meeting at which it was solicited
that the directors of the existing gas companies might
attend.

Mr. Deputy HARRISON moved that the letter
should be referred to a Committee for consideration,
and report as to what step it would be advisable to
take. He was of opinion that the two companies had
not done what they ought to have done in the matter.
He contended that it was the bounden duty of the
companies to have sent an answer to the question of
the Commissioners. Irrespective of any other com-
pany, the old companies ought to have decided as to
what they intended to do. If the directors had dons
so, the Commissioners would have known how to have
acted ; but now they were placed, as the representa-
tives of the citizens, in a very peculiar position, and
from the mode in which they had been treated, he
did think that it was incumbent upon them at
once to declare their adhesion to the new company,
and to give it all the support in their power.—(Hear.)
Mr. 11. LOWMAN TAYLOR said it was quite no-
torious that the promoters of the new gas company
could not get their Bill at least in the present session.
They were not, in fact, at all supported by the public
—(Cries of " Oh, oh")—and they found great diffi-
culty in getting customers for their shares. He did
not suppose that they would ever get their Bill, and
he believed the commissioners pretty well understood
that such was the case.
Mr. STEVENS said the Commissioners understood
no such thing. He was convinced that the Bill bad
a chance of being passed in the present session. At
any rate the delay would not go beyond the session.
It had been asserted, too, by Mr. Taylor that the
public did not support the Bill. That, too, he would
most positively deny. The public did support the
Bill, and he believed to the extent of taking all the
shares.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. Deputy GODSON declared that the citizens
were deeply indebted to the company for attempting
to relieve them from a most extravagant demand.
Mr. Deputy LOTT said he belonged to no compa-
nies, but could see that the two old companies were
justified in entertaining suspicions of the new one.
He protested against complying with the request
contained in the letter.

Mr. STEVENS—The old companies have certainly
good ground for suspicion, and for apprehension of
danger to, from the new company, inasmuch as the
latter would supply better gas at 4s. than the former
supplied at 6s. per thousand.
The letter was then referred to the General Pur-
poses Committee.
Annexed to the letter was a document which was
said to be of much importance, and which several of
the members wished to have published. Mr. H. L.
TAYLOR, however, strongly protested against the pub-
lication of what had not been read, and the Court
adjourned without deciding upon the question.

LITERATURE.
CHINA and the CHINESE ; their Religion, Cha
racier, Customs, and Manufactures : the Evils arising '
from the Opium Trade S-c. 4.c. By Henry Charles
Sirr, M.A., Barrister-at Law.
The history of so strange and peculiar a people as
the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire must at all
times excite interest, but now, when we have plinted
a young colony amongst this extraordinary race, and
opened new sources of political and commercial inter-
course, an examination of their customs, character, and
climate must prove unusually important as well as
useful to the inhabitants of Great Britain. The author
of the present work has supplied matter to amuse or
interest every class of reader; every object of the
smallest interest has been most minutely described.
The antiquarian, the entomologist, the poet and
the painter, the lover of birds and flowers,—all
will find much to interest them in these com-
prehensive and beautiful volumes. In short,
he has omitted nothing, from the pencilling of a
lady': brow to the most occult wonders
of magic. lie appears as much at home
in the atelier of the painter as in the war-junk of the
mandarin. His descriptions are simple and graphic,
displaying much practical knowledge and minute ob-
servation. His denunciations of the iniquitous opium
trade are as just as they are humane and Christian-
like—this poisonous and debasing drug is, indeed, the
curse of China. The slave trade was too odious, too
horrible to be endured, that vile and unnatural traffic
in human flesh has been abolished at the loud call of
indignant humanity ; British traders can no longer
with the whip and the chain coin human flesh into
gold—this unnatural sacrifice can no longer be
offered at the shrine of mammon. Yet the chain and
the whip merely tortured the body, while this
abominable poison destroys the soul, and reduces man
below the level of the " beast that perisheth." Both
policy and humanity call aloud for such stringent
measures as will entirely put an end to this iniquitous
traffic. The visit to the war-junk, and the mandarin's
proposal to purchase the English lady, is exceedingly
amusing; the warning to curious ladies may prove
useful, some of them may perhaps agree with
us that a crumpled dress and well-pinched skin is too
high a price for an exploratory visit into the odorife-
rous regions of a Chinese lady's boudoir. The de-
scription of a Chinese feast will no doubt be accept-
able to many of our readers ; we shall, therefore,
trrnscribe it, in the graphic words of the author :
" Invitations and the mode of sending them vary as
cording to the rank of the guest, or the respect intended
to be paid to him, by the comparative value of the
material on which the invite is written, being either

inscribed on paper, silk, gold, or sirer tinsel, and by the
length, is to be measured the respect intended to be paid
and accorded to the guest.
" This missive is borne by one or more servants, where
great respect and ceremony is paid and observed, the
domestics invariably expecting and receiving a douceur.
This document sets forth all the posts and dignities of
the individual invited, is compressed into narrow folds
and enclosed in a silken corer and tied round with cord
of the same material. The Chinese code of etiquette is
most punctilious, and would outvie the usuages of the
most ceremonious court of Europe. The moment a guest
alights from his sedan chair, the host steps forth into the
verandah to salute the visitor; this is done by compli-
mentary speeches, bowing the head until the chin rests
upon the chest, bending the body and knees, joining the
hands.
" In front of the person, and with them knocking the
chest, when the master of the house intends to honour
a guest most especially, he takes the visitor's hands be-
tween his own, gently tapping or striking them against
his breast, this being the Chinese mode of shaking
hands. Now follows a contest for precedence, neither
party choosing to enter the dwelling before the other ;
after various and divers bowings, bendings, knockings,
and genuflexions, this point is settled by host and guest
entering the house together. After entering the same
ceremony takes place as to where each shall sit, mad who
shall be seated first ; and this overstrained courtesy is
observed with each guest, therefore equals are only in-
vited to these feasts. As soon as all the guests are
assembled tea is handed round in small covered cups,
which are placed on silver stands shaped like arse t,oarnd.
are beautifully chased or ornamented with Mework.
The cups were of antique porcelain, exceeding
And valued,
as thin as tissue paper, of a pure w
transparent and ornamented with fihgiutree:.s.,.ethewidieenlictahtee
tracery and painting being only pereep lb!
vessel is filled with liquid. After the tea had been im-
bibed. and a little talk indulged in, a tribe of servants,
clad in long white grass-cloth robes, entered the room,
' • Erick the silken curtains of the door-way
Urnwing •
leading to tho eating-room. Tho host then arose
begging the guests to enter the room, where a humble
repast had been prepared, which be hoped they
'could
deign to partake of. Now began another battle of cere-
mony, which was settled by the host placing himself
dms'
between two of his guests, the others prece • The
table was laid for six, and nothing could have been in
better taste or more elegantly arranged—chairs of equal
size and form were placed round the table, and the
whole party acknowledged theirh eequality by taking their
seats at the same moment. T
shape, and on it was table was of a circular
spread a silken cover, the edges
being bordered with an embroidery of gold and silver,
porcelain jars, of formexquisite and brilliant colours,
were filled with the choicest flowers of the orange, citron,
lemon, camellia japonica,and china aster, these flowers
being so disposedinth jars as to form various patterns.
Interspersed between thee ornaments were representa-
:l°tilaseooyftlicimiyalistiithue. frame-work
.se. made of split bamboo,
I tte moo, jekkomi4e, and ether biusl4