The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-04 00:00:00

METROPOLIS GAS.

The following is an epitome of the bill deposited
by the Metropolitan Gas Companies :--
"After stating in the preamble that the metropo-
lis is lighted by 13 different companies, each having
a special district, and that by the Metropolis Gas
Act of 1860 provisions were enacted for the regu-
lation of these companies, and referring to the pro-
ceedings of the Select Committee of the House of
Commons in 1866 and 1867, which the companies
were required to submit to arrangements for amal-
gamation and further regulation, the bill proceeds
to enact (adopting with slight variation the clauses
proposed by the Board of Trade last session) that
the companies may submit to the Board of Trade
a scheme for the amalgamation of the companies,
or some of them, with a view to the reduction of
expenditure, which scheme the Board of Trade may
either approve or modify after receiving representa-
tions from the local authorities, who are defined to
be the Commissioners of the Sewers as regards the
supply of gas to the city, and the Metropolitan
Board of Works as regards the supply to the rest
of the metropolis. If the companies do not submit
a scheme within six months after the passing of the
Act, or do not assent to the modifications of the
Board of Trade, the latter may appoint three Com-
missioners, who are to be invested with all necessary
power of obtaining evidence, &c., and are to report
a scheme. When a scheme has been confirmed
by an order of her Majesty in Council it is to be
binding.

" The bill then provides for the appointment of a
board, to be called ' The Metropolitan Gas Re-
ferees,' of whom the Board of Trade is to name one,
the local authorities two, and the companies two.
This board of five referees is to be continued in
office beyond a year, or revived from time to time
if the Board of Trade deem it expedient, three being
a quorum. The duties of the board are to prescribe
the mode to be adopted for testing the illuminating
power, and, with regard to purity, they are, after
examining the several works and the processes in
use by the companies, to prescribe the maximum
amount of impurity to be allowed in each form, and
to prescribe the mode to be adopted for testing and
recording the purity of the gas supplied. The test-
ing places and apparatus for testing both the illu-
minating power and purity, which shall be provided
by each company, but placed under the manage-
ment of the chief gas examiner, are also to be pre-
scribed by the Gas Referees.

" Provision is made for the appointment of gas
examiners at each testing place by the local autho-
rities, and of a chief local examiner by the Board of
Trade. The gas examiners are to make daily re-
ports of their testings of illuminating power and
purity to the local authorities, the chief gas exami-
ner, and the companies. The chief gas examiner
is to decide any dispute between the examiners and
the companies, but if the companies do not appeal
against the examiner's report within seven days it
is to be conclusive. Quarterly reports are to be made
to the same parties by the chief gas examiner, stat-
ing the illuminating power and impuritieson each day
For every candle of deficient illuminating power
the companies are to forfeit not exceeding 20s. per.
100,000 feet of the gas supplied on the day of de-
fault from the defaulting station, and for defective
purity a sum not exceeding £5O in respect of each
station in default. The reports of the examiner or
of the chief examiner on appeal are to be conclusive
evidence of liability for the issue of the magistrate's
warrant of distress. The dividends of the share-
holders are to be reduced by the amount of the. for-
feitures, and are not afterwards to be made up.
The regulations as to the minimum illuminating
power of the gas to be supplied and the maximum
charge per 1,000 feet to be made co the following
effect :

" In the month of January in any year the Board
of Trade may from time to time be called upon by
any company or by local authority to appoint a
commission to revise the scale of power and price,
who are to fix them for the year so as to be calcu-
lated to yield to the company with due care and
management a dividend as near as may be, but in
no case exceeding the rate to which the dividends
are now limited, and to make up any arrears to
which the company is entitled ; but subject to these
provisions they are to fix the illuminating power
as high and the price as low as circumstances admit.

" Until this commission is called into operation
the companies submit to a minimum power two
candles higher and to a maximum price 6d. lower
than' the power and price prescribed by the Act
of 1860.

" The profits are to be limited as at present by
the special acts of the companies and the Metropolis
Gas Act of 1860, all the shares being restricted to
certain prescribed rates of dividend, ranging from.
5 to 10 per cent.

" An auditor is to be appointed by the Board of
Trade, who is to have extensive powers for the pro-
tection of the consumer. On the passing of the
act he is to examine the accounts of the companies
and certify the amount of their share and loan
capital, to prescribe an uniform form of accounts,
to audit the half-yearly accounts, and may require
any accounts to be corrected which he may con-
sider incorrect in principle or detail. The ac-
counts aro to he laid before the House of
Parliament, and no dividend is to be declared
otherwise than in accordance with the certificate of
the auditor. The auditor is to have access to all
books and documents. All differences between the
auditor and the companies are to be settled by
arbitration.

" To insure an abundant supply of gas a specified
pressure is to be maintained for every private con-
sumer, with a penalty in default of £lO a day.

64 The companies are to show the size of all their
mains on the maps they are required to furnish to
the Clerk of the Peace.

i, The remuneration of the Commissioners to be
appointed under the act, the Gas Referees, of the
chief gas examiner, and of the auditor, to be fixed
by the Board of Trade, are, together with all ex-
penses properly incurred by them, to be paid by
the companies, as are, of course, the expenses in
relation to the passing of the act.
" The gas examiners are to be paid by the local
authorities."

.MARKETS—(2 his Day.)

COVENT GARDEN.

FRUlT.—Apples, 4s Od to 8s; chesnuts, lOs to 16s;
walnuts, lOs to 20s per bushel ; cobnuts, is ; grapes, 4s Od
to 8s ; pine apples, 3s to 6s per lb ; lemons, 2s 6d to 7s ;
oranges, 4s to 8s per 100; pears, 2s to 4s per dozen.
VEGETABLES.—Artichokes, 2s to 4s ; beet, is to 2s ;
cabbages, Os Od to Os; cauliflowers, 3s to Gs; tomatoes.
Os to Os per dozen , carrots, 6d to 8d ; herbs, 2d to 4d ;
Od to Od; turnips, 3d to 4d per bunch ; celery, is to
is 6d; horseradish, 3s to 5s per bundle; endive, is 6d to
2s ; lettuces, is to is 6d per score ; onions, 4s Od to ss;
spinach, 2s Od to 3s per bushel; potatoes, BUs to 160 s per
ton.