The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-27 00:00:00

Mr. Godson, of St. Margaret's and St. John's,
Westminster, was called to the chair, and amongst
the delegates present were Dr. Bachhoffaer, aryle-
bone ; Mr. D. E. Cameron, churchwarden, and Mr.
H. Farrer and Mr. .Eldridge, St. Pancras ; Mr.
Dowden, St. George's, Hanover square; Mr. Chin-
hock and Mr. Watkins, St. James's, Westminster;
Mr. Tempany, Mr. Peticr, and Mr. Bertolucci, with
Mr. Drugerfield, vestry clerk, from St. Martin's-in-
the-Fields; Mr. Redfern, Newington; Mr. Stratton
and Mr. Warren, Lambeth; Mr. J. Watkins and
Mr. Perry, St. Luke's, Chelsea; Mr. Wilkins,
Kensington, &e.
Mr. BEAL, the hon. secretary, stated that since
-the last meeting he had enclosed-the copy of the
bill which the delegates proposed to introduce into
Parliament in the ensuing session to the Secretary
of State for the Home Department, Sir G. C. Lewis.
He had called the Home Secretary's attention to the
following facts :—That at the previous interview
which a deputation had had with the Home Secre-
tary on the Subject of the existing arrangement for
the supply of gas to the metropolis, and the pro.
posed legislative enactment to remedy the evils
consequent on the distributing arrangements cf
the 'companies, whereby a monopoly in the sup-
ply of gas WO effected without Parliamentary
sanction, he was, good enough to promise full con.
sideration of the question. That they also
-pressed upon his atthteent::lnuetl,l;9lpni:soepriaesty-4,.Onole-
yermazlit taking
gas sup- PIN-- as was adopted 'r-efiTai‘e-7-tW 'the
Water Act of 1852. He expressed a hope that the
Government would be now prepand to aid them in
carrying the bill. He informed the Home Secre-
tary that the grounds upon which they claimed tWs
support frotn Government were,' that the metro-
polis was most unfortunately situated as - regarded
its own local government, which almost every pro-
vincial town had authority to apply its funds to
aliiin)ig:gtolltetteicipnitagsitiomsdrpublic interests. Not so the metropolis.
highAwere
i 01
te
justified
7:1111
ahfe
laxttt bnueGgcei ch
a iring the culated
edswitnihenar
publictre
resist-
ingey
nearly £i;0,000 per annum would the
pre-
pared to entrust to the whole metropolis the muni,
eipal powers granted to other towns, they would
readily await the time when, • under their own
powers, they could make the appeal to its legality
uncontested. In the absence of those privileges
they asked the Government to consider the
unprotected state of the metropolis, a prey to x
monopoly, involving an annual metropolitfin outlay
at the lowest esti►nate of .-E,2.000,000, as welt
worthy of consideration. He further stated that
should the Hame Secretary be disposed to aid them,
an early communication as to the time he would
receive a deputation was of the.decpest importance.
If, on the contrary, more information was required,
the delegates would be happy to lay the whole case
before him, either by memorial or personal inter
view. To this communication he (Mr. Beal) had
received the following reply :

_
WIIITEICA.T.L, OCT. 19.
Sir,—l am directed by Secretary Sir George Lewis to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the Lith inst., and
its enclosures, on the subject of the supply of gas to the
metropolis, and to inform you that when he returns to town
lfF will fix a tim3 for an interview with a deputation.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
J. Beal, Esq: -IL WADDINGTON.

. _
Mr. BEAL further reported that he had also
written to the President of the Board of Trade, Mr.
Milner Gibson, but had not yet received a reply.
He also corrected a statement that Mr. Wyatt, the
Parliamentary agent, was responsible for the delay
in not giving due notices for the bill last session.
The communication was received, and ordered to.
be entered upon the minutes.
Dr. BACHOFFNER expressed a hope that in their
bill they would maintain 4s. 6d. per thousand fed
should be the maximum price the companies should
charge for gas, as that was the of iginal basis agreed
upon with the companies, and if they put in a
lower price it would be breakieg faith with them.
Mr. ItEDFERN and other gentlemen combatted

thin point, and said if it was persisted in, the
parishes of the south side bf Loudon would be
'placed in a wore position than they were in at pre-
sent as to price. ••
• It was ultimately resolved that a special meeting
should be convened to consider this and other de-
tails of the proposed bill.
Mr. HUGHES, the honorary enineer, read a re-
port he had prepared on the subject of metropolis
gas lighting, which -shoaled,' although -the com-
panies state that they have made no advance in.
their price, that the contracts entered into for the
suppiy of the public lights during the last two
years have conditions in them insisted upon by the
companies which are practically equivalent to a
rise in price. Mr. Hughes then proceeds to detail
various instances of encroachment and annoyance
on the part of the companies in respect to public
lighting, ani. the fact of their cutting down the
illuminating power of their gas, and other mattersin
which the public at present are entirely at their
mercy. After enteringinto a variety of statisticsand
details to prove his position, Mr. Hughes concluded
by expressing his conviction that when the whole
of the facts were brought under the notice of the
Government and Parliament they will not permit
this great wrong upon the entire metropolis to
exist.
The report was adopted, and after some discus-
sion resolutions were carried, calling upon the
parishes which had promised subscriptions, and
others to aid in fighting the battles with the gas
companies in the ensuing session.