Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-11

than by the average gas companies in New England. The average consumption of gas per capita in other cities in New England Is LAB feet. In New Haven it is 1,618 feet. The naphtha lamps in New Haven are general ly in the streets on the outskirts of the city.
 The use of kerosene in New Haven IS less ln proportion than any other city in New Eng land, so far as my knowledge extends It IS not, in my opinion, possible for any gas com pany to compete with kerosene, even though gas was down to fifty cents. have never
 heard any complaint about the sufhciency or gas as to it's distribution. The quality Of gas
 in New Haven is good as compared with other
 places. think the quality of gas has been improved since I have been in New Haven, and I have had authority to make as
 good gas as possible. The gas is tested every day at the office, mile away from the works. There is also a half-hour test made of the quality of the gas at the works every day. The tests for the last few months show little over twenty candle quality>of gas. I have
 never heard any complaint of the general quality of gas. There are occasions when repairs are being made at the works that for short time there has been slight trouble from the gas. A complaint book is kept at the of flee, and whenever complaint is made at the office competent man is sent to investigate. The candle power of our company is 8 little ahead of other companies in New England.
 It is our aim to kesp our gas up to eight can de power. If the power is greater than this
  If gas is made too rich it is inclined to smoke, and people will complain of poor gas. The company get $31 each for street lamps, of
 which they pay for care of the lamps $6 each
 per year. The price for gas in other cities of the size of New Haven is $2.50 per thousand on an average. In Brooklyn the price of gas has been reduced within the last month from $2.50 to $2. The cost of coal there is much less than in New
 Haven The attention of gas companies is called to new methods nearly every week. I presume that there have been hundred patents taken out for making gas with naphtha. In describing the Gale & Rand process of making naphtha gas, Mir. Sherman said that five or six years ago, when he was in Worcester, the agents of Gale & Rand came there and in- pay them $25, 900 they would take some other method to introduce the gas. In other places they charged all the way from $40, 900 to $1OO, GOO for the right to use their patent. At that time they gave figures showing that they could put this gas into the holder for 32
 cents per thousand. They claimed all sorts of superiority for this gas over coal gas. This process has now been abandoned. My atten- ton was called to water gas about twenty years ago. Since naphtha became so cheap the water process has been revived. have visit ed the Municipal water gas works of New York, those at Baltimore and those at Scranton, Pa The Gwinn- Harris process consists in using retorts. The Tessie du Motay process is made in cupoias. Witness here described the diff ferent processes of making water gas similar | to those given by Mir. Bradley for the other | side. l Witness continued: The process in these different plans is the same, except in the ! mechanical appliances. None of the Gwinn- 1 Harris gas works that he visited a few years l ago were now in existence. At the Lowe and l Gwinn- Harris works that visited was per mitted to look over their books as to the cost | of gas In my visits, and with all my knowl- Inf5r nf fhn yUQfG CyHa nT1H l the investigations have made, I do not think ! it would be for the interest of the New Haven | Gas Company to change. If they were dis ] posed to change they could do so more eco-
 nomieally than new company could start l their works. To adopt the Tessie du Motay
 process would involve new gas holder at an | expense of about $75, 900. The change to the Gwinn-Harris process would cost but very l little. The witness here enumerated the sev- | eral water gas companies in different cities l that had abandoned the process. He said that 1 in three cases coal gas had been substituted. It is the prevailing opinion among gas en- i gineers that gas from coal is the best and most | economical. At the Manhattan gas works in I New York they have kept test of the candle | power of the Municipal gas, and it showed 19 | and fraction. The Municipal Gas Go. are sending out different gas from what they | did four months ago, from my observation. | There is a manifest difference in it. I never knew of the Municipal Gas Company claim | ing over 22 candle power before this hearing. I don't believe there is any 30 candle gas made ! that can be used on account of it's smoking. 1 He said in London where there were former | ly 13 gas companies, there are now only 3. l Where there were so many there was great deal of trouble about the gas mains when the
 companies ran through the same streets. The l companies have now amalgamated. In Paris
 there were formerly eight companies and now | there is only one. There are about 1, 200 gas i companies in this country, and there are only six places that am aware of where there is | mora than one company. These are New l York, Baltimore, Lancaster, Harrisburg, New burg and Poughkeepsie. In all other places that have known where there have been two or more companies they have either amalga-
 mated or districted The longest competition
 l have ever known between rival companies
 has been four years. In all instances where 1 companies were fighting the price was
 duced. Since 1860 there had been put into New York gas companies in stocks and bonds, $11 65O, 900. don't know of 8 single in
 stance in the civilized world where two com peting gas companies have been successful or I a benefit to the consumer.
 | On the cross examination by MT. Case, wit
 ness said he did not know the number of con- | sumers in the New Haven Gas Company, but l thought it was not far from 5000. He did | not think the number of gas consumers would
 be doubled though new company should l bind themselves to furnish gas at $l. 50 per
 thousand. The reason why they would not do
 this is because they can get cheaper light by l burning kerosene. He did not think the num- Der of consumers would be increased 1, 1000. I never have said that the Tessie du Motay process was better than any other water gas process. I never tried to negotiate with Mir. 1 H. E. Gautray, of the Municipal Gas Compa- ny, for purchase of the Tessie du Motay pro- 1 cess. Mir. Sherman declined to give the cost
 of making coal gas. He said he had seen the
 cost of the water gas in the holder stated at 60 cents per thousand.
 On the redirect MT. Sherman said, in reply
 to Mr. Ingersoll, that he could not detect the
 coal gas from the water gas by looking at the
 burning lamps.
 At this point an adjournment was taken. General Matters,
 The Judiciary Committee will report favor
 ably on the bill permitting the judges to tax $1 OOO each in the costs for the services of
 Thomas M. Waller and Lynde Harrison. \ special States attorneys in the Hayden mur- | der trial.
 The 'tsteam dredge" bill, which was to have been called up tomorrow, will probably be
 continued on the table, as MT. Robertson, of New Haven, who is desirous of speaking against the bill will be necessarily absent from
 the House. It will probably come up on Fri ! day.
 | State Correspondence.