The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-30 00:00:00

Court of Common Council.

-

Yesterday a special meeting of the Common Coun-
cil was convened at Guildhall, for the despatch of
business ; the Lord Mayor (Alderman Gabriel) oc-
cupying the chair.

Mr. 11. LOWMAN TAYLOR, a member of the Court,
and also of the Metropolitan Board of Works, in
which latter body he represents the corporation of
the City of London, laid on the table certain returns
which showed, he said, that the City of London
contributed as much as £13,000 a year and upwards
to the Metropolitan Board, in addition to the main
drainage rate, as compared with £5,550 which it
contributed during the first year of the existence of
that board. The aggregate taxation, he said, of the
City towards the works undertaken by the board,
was £30,000 a year in round numbers. On his
motion the papers in question were referred for con-
sideration' to the local government and taxation
committee. He added, in reply to a question by
Mr. Alderman Copeland, that although Mr. Furness,
the contractor, was in difficulties, and unable to
carry on his contract for the Thames Embankment,
the contract had been taken in hand by a very com-
petent person, and he had no doubt would be carried
on with energy.
Mr. J. P. BONTEMS, the chairman of the special
committee in regard to the supply of gas, presented
a report of proceedings under a reference of 28th of
September last, authorising- the committee to con-
tinue their exertions to carry into practical effect
the success obtained by the corporation for securing
the supply of good and cheap gas, and for authority
to take such measures as may appear advisable in
respect of the bill to amend the Metropolis Gas Act,
1860, of which notice had been given reporting
from time to time to the court. That bill, which
will be introduced by the Government, has for its
objects, among others, to regulate and improve the
quality and illuminating power of the g,is to be
supplied within the metropolis and adjacent districts,
the mode of pressure, and the price at which the
gas shall be supplied, and the terms and conditions
of the supply ; to regulate and improve the mode of
testing the illuminating power and quality of the
gas, and to provide for charging the attendant ex-
penses on the gas companies and local authorities ;
to regulate the voluntary and compulsory supply of
gas and meters, and the amount of payment and re-
covery of gas rents and meter rents ; to alter and
regulate the mode of keeping and rendering the ac-
counts of the gas companies, and to provide for the
inspection, analysis, audit, and publication of their
accounts ; to reduce and regulate the capital and
borrowing powers of the gas companies ; to limit
their profits, dividends, and rates of interest, and to
public p
b purposes
es
would byaverage
carry
repeal the power to apply surplus profits in the
owsdnot
aug-
mentation of previously declared dividends; and to
regulate the property in, and the exclusion of, works
relating to gas pipes, meters, lamps, and other ap-
paratus for public lighting, and to compel the com-
panies
iu tio on supplyh geas Government for
meter indication. The corporatien committee were
of
out the recommendations of the select committee of
the House of Commons, but give to the corporation
nearly, if not all, the powers which they had applied
for in their bill for the City, and that b • eing so they
did not think it expedient to proceed further with
the corporation bill in the ensuing session,
that the Government measure, if it became
law,
would secure to the inhabitants of
the metropolis at
large all the advantages for which
the corporation
had so strenuously laboured.
In moving the adoption of the report of the com-
mittee yesterday Mr. Bontems, chairman, stated
that it would have cost the corporation at the pre-
sent market price £1,400,000 to buy up the existing
gas companies in the City, whereas by expending
£500,000, they could have suppled the citizens
with gas at 3s. a thousand cubic feet, and of the
requisite purity and illuminating power.
Mr. DRESSER ROGERS moved an amendment to
the effect that the opposition bill for the supply of
gas to the City be continued, so that in the event
of the Government bill being lost the City of Lon-
don might have a locus standi before the House of
Commons for the purpose of endeavouring to obtain
.
tizns.
cheaper and better gas for the ci
de
in the end, the
A long discussion ensued, an
rawn, the report of
amendment having been wi
Ihdaud referred back to
the committee was adopted
them for execution.
The court then adjourned.