The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-15 00:00:00

GAS IN TILE METROPOLIS.

Our columns yesterday contained a report of a
meeting of delegates from various metropolitan
vestries to consider the supply of gas to the metro-
polis. If the gentlemen who have taken this matter
in hand can put the relation of the Gas Companies
to the consumers upon anything like a proper foot-
ing, they will deserve the thanks of thousands of
householders and confer a benefit upon every mem-
ber of this metropolitan community. It is com-
puted that in one:way or other London pays nearly
£2,000,000 a year for about 7,000,000 cubic feet of
gas, obtained by the distillation of 840,000 tons of
coals. Thus it is not a petty interest which is now
in question. In a dense civic populhtion gas may be
reckoned among the necessaries of life. Within
doors it is one of the most convenient sources of
light and warmth, and for our thoroughfares by
night it is an indispensable element of comfort and
security. At present, however, we do not make of
it half the use we might if it were accessible, pure,
and abundant. It is often too foul to be admitted
into the best rooms of the house, and so dear that
the number of public lamps is 'decreasing in some of
our best streets. The population and extent of the
metropolis cannot increase without necessitating an
increase in the quantity of gas annually made in
London, but owin4 to various causes, the con-
sumption of the article is still disproportioned to
the capacity of the public.
In the case of most saleable commodities, we may
safely rely on competition to beat down all kinds of
factious checks to extortion. Difficulties which to
the manufacturer or merchant seem insuperable, are
speedily surmounted in presence of a rival. Eco-
nomy is studied, improvements are made, price is
reduced, quality raised, until finally the fair re-
ward of the producer or vendor is ascertained. For
a long time this principle was relied on in London,
as elsewhere, to provide good and cheap gas. The
Chartered Gas Company, the first of the Metropo-
litan companies which obtained an Act of Parlia-
ment, was incorporated in 1810 to light the cities
of London and Westminster, and the borough of
Southwark; and the City of London Company, the
next to be incorporated, obtained powers to light
exactly the same districts. So of other new com-
panies, although formed in some cases to meet. the
wants of new districts, they obtained Parliamentary
power to light streets and houses which had been
previously assigned to former bodies. This compe-
tition has not been without fruit. The price of gas
has been steadily lowered in London. In 1831 the
Imperial Gas Company was charging 13s. 6d. ; in
1833, 12s. ; in 1835, 10s. ; in 1836, 95.; in 1844,
7s. ; and now it is charging 4s. 6d. per 1,000 feet.
But the direct competition of Gas Companies
in the same district is certain speedily to
attain its limit and thenceforward to di-
minish until its principle is altogether super-
seded by that of a community of interests. The
institution of a new Company to correct the abuses
of the old one is a remedy which cannot be often
applied. Even if the probable demand is such as to
justify the outlay involved in an additional set of
mains and new works, the streets cannot receive an
indefinite number of pipes. The practical limit is
soon reached, and then, if not before, coalition be-
gins. The London and the Equitable Companies,
each of which was founded as a competitor of the
Chartered Gas Company to supply the West-end
parishes, were seeking to amalgamate in 1850, and
endeavouring to obtain an Act which would have
put an end to competition in their common district.
A joint-stock company, the Western Gas Light
Company, was permitted, as a competitor with these
monopolists, to lay down its pipes, although it had
no parliamentary powers. Last year even this Com-
pany appeared as the leader of a grand combined
movement, with the' object of establishing a more
comprehensive monopoly than the metropolis had
before seen. In 1849 the discontent against the two
Companies which sapplied Southwark was so great
that, as the result of a public movement, the Surrey
Gas Consumers' Company was formed, and the
price of gas was reduced fiom 6s. to 4s. per 1,000
feet. Two years afterwards the new Company and
the old came to an arrangement, not only put an end
to competition, but divided the district between them,
each agreeing not to supply gas to the customers of
the other, of course raising the price of the article.
In 1857 the various Gas Companies appear to have
considered that the time had come when merely
partial combination should be superseded by a
general arrangement in the interest of the pro-
prietors of Gas shares. Negotiations took place
between the various companies on the north side of
the river for a reappropriation of districts, of which
the withdrawal of certain companies where compe-
tition had existed was to be one of the results.
They were conducted to a successful termination,
and the consequences soon became apparent to the
public. Companies refused to tender for public
lighting of districts in which they had formerly
been competitors, and the vestries were left to
make such terms as they could with those to whom
the monopoly had been abandoned. Nigher terms
were demanded for lighting street lamps. Private
consumers were required to submit to new and arbi-
trary terms of supply, or to have their gas cut off.
By new regulations respecting meters, deposits of
money security for payment, payment of arrears due
by former tenants, and other vexatious arid unbusi-
nem like conditions, the householder was made to feel
that he was no longer a free purchaser of gas in the
market, but the helpless victim of a powerful and
irresponsible association.
It is too late, even if it were worth while, to com-
plain that the old guarantee of fair treatment for
the gas consumerlis gone. Competition, which left
the gas companies in the position of tradesmen
striving who should win most custom by producing
the best artic:e was a good thing while it was possi-
ble ; but it has disappeared, and cannot in this case
be restored, at least not in its old form. Were the
arrangements for supplying London with gas to
make anew, it might be wise to consider the plan
of competition for the field which Mr. Edwin
Chadwick has recommended ts applicable to all cases
where competition in the field is undesirable or im-
practicable. The plant required for distributing the
gas might be the property of the public, and the
privilege of supplying gas might be entrusted to
contractors, under proper guarantees, for terms not
too long to exempt them from responsibility to
the, representatives of the public. The practical
question, however, now is how to provide those
securities for the consumers' interest which compe-
tition has heretofore more or less supplied. The
delegates of the metropolitan vestries have under-
taken to answer it. They say truly, in the words
of Mr. Beal, "The existing Gas Companies having
obtained their Acts of Parliament on the distinct
basis of competition, and having, without the sanc-
tion of Parliament, by a mere private compact
amongst themselves, removed the competing basis
and divided the metropolis into districts, the light-
ing of which is confided to one company, we must
now demand the enactment of such restrictions
against the abuse of the power as Parliament in-
serts in all provincial acts establishing a monopoly
to light a district, and such as it certainly would
have imposed could this newly created monopoly
have been foreseen." It is impossible to deny the
reasonableness of this requirement. What those
restrictions should be we must further examine.—
Daily News.