The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-08 00:00:00

LONDON GAS AND fYATER MONOPOLIES

(From the Engineer.)

The metropolitan gas and water companies as-
suredly have their delight in war. No sooner are
ended those great conflicts between themselves, in
which they have for many years indulged, and to
carry on which they have squandered an amount
of money sufficient to do all their work twice over,
than they are preparing, or indeed have already
prepared, jointly and severally, to carry on a con-
test with the public at large. It is not enough, after
tearing up all our streets and monopolising the
whole of the ground under us, for several feet or yards
in depth, as they may require, that they should be
permitted to give us bad gas and bad water for the
best of pries—prices that have enabled them to
pay handsome dividends even upon the enormous
capital they have squandered in litigation, but now
they must needs combine their individual strengths
to compel the public to deal with just that section,
and no other, of the great monopoly into which
they have formed themselves, which that monopoly
itself may determine. The British put lie is indeed
no stranger to monopolies ; it has had considerable
experience in that sort of thing with railway com-
panies, who have done pretty much as they liked,
although they have not always profited by the
powers they have possessed, not unfrequently hav-
ing, by somewhat complicated but imperfect ar-
rangements, given the public some advantage from
their combinations. Whatever has been the result,
these railway monopolies have never assumed so
formidable an aspect as that now presented by the
respective combination of several of the metropo-
litan gas and water companies. The public has,
in the case of railways, never been compelled to
travel by any one line at the discretion of the com-
panies, whenever there have been two, three, or
four in existence, by which any particular place
might be reached. All that has been done has re-
lated to the fares charged, and sometimes, perhaps,
to the speed at which the trains have been worked ;
but in most cases the fares have not been exorbi-
tant, especially for long distances, awl the speed of
the trains has been quite as great as the require-
ments of the great majority of the public demanded.
Not so, however, have the wants of the great body
of gas and water sonsumers been supplied. The
charges made by the purveyors of those necessaries
of life have generally been most exorbitant, and not
justified by the expenses of manufacture er supply.
Even so long as the several companies were enemies
to each other, and consequently were individually
subject to much competition, they at all times
managed to keep up protection prices, and were
only brought to their senses by the occasional start-
ing of rival concerns emanating from a body of con-
sumers who could endure their treatment no longer.
Under the present arrangement, however, as long
as it lasts, the position of these companies will be
materially improved, for by a union never before
attempted they have lately laid out the metropolis
into districts of their own, which it is their good
will and pleasure shall be supplied from one branch
of their mighty joint establishment, and that upon
any terms chosen by that branch ; so that, although
the mains of three or four companies may be running
past one's door, you must necessarily buy of that
particular company selected by the great monopo-
lists to supply you. This seems to be (tarrying com-
bination too far. Had some judicious arrangement
been made by which the unnecessary and extrava-
gant outlayi 'marred by laying several mains along
the same thorougufares would have been saved, it
might have resulted in some benefit to the public ;
but now that all the evils arising from competing
companies are upon us, in the shape of heavy
charges both for gas and water, let us r.tain the
privilege of selecting from amongst the number
that with which we prefer to deal ; unless it can
be shown that we benefit by a combination such as
that now entered into. If any parish or district
can be better or cheaper supplied by one company
than another, of course there would be an advan-
tage in that company only being dealt-with ; but,
instead of this, we find—from what cause it is diffi-
cult to determine--that the arrangements lately
made actually apportion certain districts to certain
companies that are apparently in a worse position
for supplying them than others. Added to this,
the prices charged to the parishes appear to be re-
gulated by the longer and unnecessary distance
traversed by the mains.
In a pamphlet just published by Messrs. Stan-
ford, of Charing-cross, Mr. T. Hughes, C.E the

author, draws attention to the present position of
the local boards and the public generally in refer-
once to the gas and water companies, and offers
some suggestions for the future which, if carried
out, he believes, would put a stop to the evils of
which we have been complaining. The most flag-
rant case would appear to be that of the Chartert,d
Gas Company charging for lighting each of 765
lamps in the Westminster district, with common
gas 41.145., whereas the Equitable Company agreed
to light fifty of the lamps with the same gas at 41.
2s. 6d. The two companies having arranged to
tender for those respective numbers of lights, and
only for them, the Westminster Board is compelled
to accept these unequal terms, and the result is
that its expenses for lighting will be 3531. per
annum more than before the combination. It is

also stated that the Chartered Company, while
claiming 41. 14s. for each light of ten candles in
Westminster, only charges V. in Marylebone for
the same thing, although the lights in the latter
parish aro the most distant from the works, and
there are only 260 lamps to light instead of 765,
as in Westminster.
Passing on to the subject of water supplyand the
evils resulting from want of a wholesome competi-
tion, we find the most extraordinary discrepancy
betwixt the amounts charged by the different com-
panies, especially for watering the streets, and also
in the quantities of water said to be necessary. Mi.
Hughes, in the pamphlet before alluded to, gives a
table of the quantities of water allowed by the seve-
ral metropolitan water companies for twice water-
ing a mile of street per day ; these quantities vary-
ing from less than 9,000 gallons to 20,000 ; the
price charged varying from 371. to 751. ; the price
per 100 square yards ranging from 4s. 2d. to Bs.
4d. To arrive at some knowledge of the actual quail-
tity of water required for watering a given area, the
Westminster Board very wisely directed experi-
w.ents to be made by their surveyor, Mr. Arutz.
the
chargeepoint of 5
desirs. 9
ed t
J.o be ascertained was, whether
per 100 square yards watered
for the season, was in excess or not of the charge
of 6d. per 1,000 gallons, the price paid by large
consumers taking their supply by meter. One set
of experiments showed that a little less than 21
gallons sufficed to water twice a day 100 square
yards ; and another set showed that a little less
than 26 gallons were sufficient. At Od. per gallon
the charge for watering 100 square yards should,
according to this be 3s. instead of ss. 9d., and a
saving of upwards of 3001. per annum would, in the
ease of the Westminster district, be the result.
Mr. Hughes suggests certain plans for remedy-
ing the irregular dealings of gas companies, which,
if adopted, would doubtless do much good. The
foremost of these is, that the local boards should
combine to erect gas works of their own on.the
outskirts of the metropolis, or that they should in
troduce a bill into Parliament to bring all the Lon-
don gas companies under the immediate operation
of the London Gas Works Clauses Act, and to give
a power of arbitration to the Board of Trade, or
some similar authority, in case of dispute between
the local boards and the gas companies. As an
encouragement to those who are inclined to start
independent companies, the results of the Man-
chester Corporation Gas Works may be named. In
this case, after paying all expenses and interest on
capital, some 30,0001. a year is left for public im-
provements ; the price charged at tha Manchester
Corporation Gas Works, for gas from best cannel
coal being, nevertheless, only 55., as against Gs.
charged in the western part of London, per I,oooit.
With respect to any plan for remedying the evils
of overcharges being made on the part of the water
companies, the u.e of meters in every case is the
most obvious ; and now that the quantity of water
required for watering the streets is accurately
known, it must be the local boards' own fault if
they are cheated. One other point claims our at-
tention, and that is the question of " constant
supply." It would hardly appear, judging from
what has been done, that occupiers of lit uses al-
ready have the power of insisting upon their water
supply bailie. constant. It is only necessary that a
householder get four-fifths of his neighbours sup-
plied from the same main to join him in making
the demand for constant supply in order that his
wishes should be attended to. The penalty for not
complying with them being 2001. in the ‘first in-
stance, and a further penalty of 1001. for every
month after, during which the company owning
the main shall fail in giving what is thus asked for.

STATE OF EMPLOYMENT IN MANCEIESTEE.—Tho re-
turns of employment in the mills of Manchester show a
gratifying improvement. The number of bands working
full time I.t,t week was 16,253, whilst it has increased
this week to 18,594. There is an increase of 1,688 of
those working full time, and a decrease by 649 of those
wholly out of emp'oyment. In Salford, out of 16,794
persons usually employed, there are on short time,
5,949 ; and out of work, 3,116.
THE TOLL QUESTION.—A general conference of dele-
gates from the various metropolitan vestries is under
consideration, for the purpose of discussing the propriety
of resisting the attempt whichis to be made in the
twhheich expense it
of
the
en-
suing session of Parliament to abolish tolls in the neigh-
bourhood of the metropolis—a course
would have the effect of throwing
roads upon the parishes., thus increasing to a very serious
extent the parochial rates, particularly in poor districts,
where frequently the traffic is the greatest.