The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-24 00:00:00

THE METROPOLITAN GAS MONOPOLY.

. ,
The delegates appointed by the various metro-
politan parishes to consider the question of the gas
supply of the metropolis met yesterday in the
court-house for the purpose of discussing and con-
certing the measures to be taken for accomplishing
the object they had in view, namely, obtaining
legislative powers to regulate, economise, and im-
prove the gas service in London aad its suburbs.
Dr. Bachoffncr was called to the chair, and the
minutes of the last meeting having been read and
con firmed,
•
The HON. SECRETARY (Mr. Beak) reported that
the necessary notices for going to Parliament had
been duly advertised in the public newspapers, and
that three additional clauses had been added to the
proposed bill, empowering. the Metropolitan Board
of Works, the Corporation of London, and other
local bodies, to con tract with the owners of gas
companies for a supply of gas to the metropolitan
public and other lamps, and to purchase and
acquire works fur supplying the same where ne-
cessary; to enable such authorities to levy rates,
and borrow money on the security of such rates,
for carrying out such objects ; and to empower them
to break up streets, and lay, take up, and alter gas
pipes.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of these
clauses, as the report of the honorary secretary, ob-
.served that at present the local authorities had
power to contract for lighting the lamps, but not
to borrow money for carrying out that object.
After an objection advanced by Mr. DowDEN,
that sufficient time had not been allowed for the
consideration of these clauses before they were
called upon to affirm them, and an explanation from
the secretary that the delegates were not bound to
these clauses by accepting his report—but in the
parliamentary notices it was necessary that the
powers which under these clauses it was proposed
to go for, should be referred to.
The preamble of the bill was then put and car-
ried, and subsequently a resolution was come to to
refer the bill to counsel, with the alterations ren-
dered necessary by the Sale of Gas Act of last ses-
sion, and the parliamentary notice which has been
published, in order that it might be ready in its
amended shape to lay before an adjourned meeting
of the delegates, to be held not later than the 7th
December.

The financial report, which was then read by the
Secretary, stated the receipts at £l,llO, and the
expenditure at £702 4s. 6d., leaving a balance of
£407 15s. 6d.

Some conversation ensued as to the mode of ob-
taining subscriptions for promoting the bill, after
which the meeting separated.

THE ISLE OF PERIM.

The last thing that we should desire at the pre-
sent conjuncture is to provoke a controversy with
opponents who have been recommended to forbear-
ance towards ourselves, and if we allude, therefore,
to a subject recently in favour with the French
Press, it is simply with a view of placing it, by the
aid of definite statements, in a light somewhat
clearer than it has hitherto enjoyed. No theme of
complaint has been more inexhaustible with our
neighbours than the occupation of the Isle of Perim
by a British force. On the motives ascribed to the
proceeding we need not now insist, but it certainly
received in French hands a strange description.
The little rock, instead of serving for a lighthouse,
was thought to have been turned into a citadel,
strongly fortified, formidably garrisoned, and brist-
ling with cannon. As very few Englishmen had
ever heard of the island even by name, and as most
men had gathered their whole knowledge of the
matter from these very accounts, the misconceptions
on the subject have been as common on one side of
the Channel as on the other, and the information
which we now subjoin, and on the authenticity of
which full reliance may be placed, will probably
have the recommendation of novelty even with the
public at home.

The small island of Perim, distant 90 miles
from the British settlement of Aden, at The en-
trance of the Red Sea, is undoubtedly in our pos-
session. It has been in our possession more than
once, and has been more than once voluntarily
evacuated, but it was last occupied in the month
of January, 1857, under the orders of the
Governor of Aden, with . the view of making it
the foundation for a lighthouse. It is occupied
by from 50 to 60 persons, and this number in.
eludes only a single European, a young officer of
the Bombay Artillery, who has about as plea-
sant a life of it as the light-keeper in a floating
beacon. The rest are natives of India de-
tached from the Aden garrison, comprising
25 Sappers and 30 gunners. The Sappers are
occupied in keepinr, up the water tanks and store-
rooms—no easy task, and the defence of the place
devolves upon the gunners, who, hpwever, have
no guns. We need be at no trouble to inform our

French neighbours of the exigencies attending any-
thing like a settlement on the coasts of the Red
Sea. Arabs on the one side and Africans on the
other are always menacing aggression, and no po-
sition would afford an hour's security which was
not proof against sudden attack. This protection,
and this only, has been provided for the 60 men
stationed on the Isle of Perim. A small work has
been formed of just sufficient size to contain this
little garrison and its stores, and of just sufficient
strength to resist the only weapons with which the
probable assailants would be armed. It is mus

etry-preof, and that is all, It is about as service-
able as a loghouso or blockhouse, furnishing a very
good shelter against native marauders, but nothing
more. That is literally the whole story of the sup-
posed fortifications and garrison. Beyond the work
we have described there arc no defences whatever.
There is not, nor has there ever been, a single gun
on the island. The great difficulty lies in keeping
up the supply of provisions. Communications with
Aden are maintained by a boat which plies every
14 days between the two places, and which relieves
10 or 12 men of the garrison on each occasion, the
officer in command being released once a-quarter.
It is thought desirable that the provisions on the
rock should suffice for three months' consumption,
and the water for twice that time, but so great is
the trouble involved, and so serious is the risk of

privation, that it has recently been determined to
establish another source of supply. For this pur-
pose a condensing engine and a cargo of coal were
to be despatched from Aden, and these, if they
have arrived, are the only pieces of engineering
which the island contains.

Having said this much of Perim and its garrison,
we are now bpiind to say something more, and per-
haps our neighbours will not take our explanations
any the less readily because it really contains a
confession. We must needs acknowledge that,
though Perim is neither a Malta nor a Rhodes,
though it is not a citadel, not a fortress, not a
stronghold, not a battery—though it is none of
these things—yet neither is it what it ought to be
—a proper lighthouse. We can, however, most
truly affirm that this is the actual origin and des-
tination of the settlement, and that, if the design
has not been accomplished, it has been owing only
to those official delays and vacillations which are
but too common in such proceedings. Be it re-
membered that Perim consults with Aden, Aden
with Bombay, Bombay with Calcutta, and Calcutta
with England. It did happen that, at first, the
plan of putting Aden in direct communication with
England, instead of sending despatches all round
the circle and back again, was really allowed to
prevail, but the Admiralty somehow got hold of the
question, and the proper form of the light and light-
house had to be discussed between the independent
authorities of Leadenhall-street and Whitehall.
This, of course, was not conducive to expedition,
and,though the controversy was terminated at last,
and an engineer despatched from Bombay to com-
plete the surveys and plans some twelve months
ago, the contemplated lighthouse has not been
erected yet, To this omission, then, we must plead
guilty, but if French affairs never suffer from
similar delays, we can only say that our neighbours
are truly fortunate in their administration.
We have now told the truth about the Isle of
Perim, and we may avail ourselves of the oppor-
tunity to add a word or two of more general pur-
port. France may confidently assure herself that
we in England want no extension of territory or
influence in the Red Sea, or anywhere else. Perhaps
our convictions on this head have not been long
acquired, but nothing can be more true than that
at this present moment the announcement of a new
British settlement in any quarter of the world
would create a greater outcry in this country than
in France itself. We shall, perhaps, not believed
when we make this disclaimer, but will our neigh-
bours just look dispassionately at the argumeNts
and principles now maintained in Parliament and
the Press ? Is it likely that we should be intriguing
or manoeuvring in the Red Sea when we are but half
• contented with the tenure of India itself ? Has it not
been seriously proposed that wo should resign and
make over again to native rulers provinces of in-
finitely greater importance than all the coasts cf
the Red Sea together ? The projectors of " Europe
in 1860" were kind enough to allot us the Valley
of the Euphrates in the new distribution—a far
greater thing than the Isle of Perim ; but we should
not envy the Minister who had to announce to
Parliament :that the course of that famous stream
would in future lie through British territory, and
that the house must be pleased to make due sup-
plies for the occupation and protection of her
Majesty's new Asiatic domain. We are possessors
of colonies and dependencies which were once re•
garcled as infinitely precious, and which we shall
still maintain, but the value of these possessions his
been unduly depreciated in the late revulsion ( f
opinion, and, though/we shall not cut them adrift,