Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-22
METERS ARE RIGHT.
TIE GAS INSPECTOR SAYS THEY ARE
BOUND TO TELL THE TRUTH.
yhv BnIs Are rs Large Now NJ They Used
90 Be-PsopIe who Make
Mistakes.


y;,noioh reporter yesterday afternoon how
he accounted for the complaint made Dy
numerous gas-consumers that their OILS
are "a large now as they were when gas
was a. 80 and $3.50 per 1000 cubic feet
Mr.. Knowles replied that TO begin with
many people make complaints OF thus cna-
racter when their bills are not 80 large as
thew formerly were. They are doubtless
honest. but speak from memory when Is
not always accurate IN matters hnai Ia.
In a GOOD many instances there IS large
,ncTease ascribable TO natural growth.
The man who, twenty years ago, iiveq Ia .. q
fe1v rooms or small house with half dozen
children, burnt much less gas than IS now nov
corsrroed In his large residence or To-Day,
,vben his grown sons and daughters nave
senarate apartments and burn nghts iaI
into the night.
A BIO DIFFERENCE,
rroLe Rroad street as it now Is and COM
mare IL with what ii was IN 1870. Inen ~
was an old-tlme street with old;fasnloneu
stores, each of which had maybe nNe oI
Zen 0as.iets. Most of the business-houses
bovs been remodelled OF rebuilt, and some
&c them have as many as forty, htty, OF
even sixty lights, some Of them as hlgh as
a hundred. More gas is burned and tor q
Tie people burn the gas and then COM
plain about 1t.
ABOUT MISTAKES.
"AIl of this about mistakes being maze y
abs,1rd \" Mr.. Knowles continued. IN reau-
ing meter there are only three error; Una.
no9,ld nossibly be made-that IS, OF either
! o0o feet an. 500, 10000 feet (Sl5); or lVO,;;
600 $3.50. The first might not be dete s.;.'
bv tbe consumer, but the last two certaiH %
" would be. And even II they were nov !.
would ct the worst only amount, 70 Pa{ tIIa;
cor cas- in advance, as it is not hkely that
t 49, meter would be taken wrong twice IN
snccession, and the second reading wouIu
how that a mistake had been MADE
NO SILENT VISITS.
r,roo,,entIv ladies come TO the Office, con-
tinned the Inspector, and complain tnaJ
tboir hills ara rendered without look
mo AZ the meters. Very often the readers
vii 90 in A house and take the state or the
meter without any of the inmates seeing
them. The regular men know all the slde
doora and entrances and can get through
more work in two hours than one VINO
rang the bells and waited to be let IN couIu
in twenty -four hours.
had q complaint Of this kind DAY or
two ago, Mr.. Knowles said, and the lady
was somewhat SuIDI4Btu hllCA bAA~
err went TO her house and showed her
written in lead pencil on the inside OF the
store-room door the day and hour, OF his
visit and the state of the meter. She was
still more surprised when her little chlld
told her he saw the man when he came IN
CLOUDY DAYS.
There is a great deal more gas used dq-
ring the day than there used to be, ana
the people at the works have to hustle TO
keen mn the supply. On cloudy days halt
az nuch gas is burned as at night. A short
time ago Mr.. Adams tested the consump-
ton at the works and found that at pc
tween7 and 8 A. NJ. $1,000 feet were burned.
"Therels at the gas-works machine TOT
the express purpose of testing meters OF all
persons who have any doubt as TO the
correctness of the one in their house;
Upon request any meter IS taken out and
tested, and il it varies even l per cent;
from the true it can be readily discovered
by means of a graduated scale attached to
a miniature holder and which requires no
experience in order to see 1t.
DON'T BURN IT.
One of the most amusing classes OF
people we have to deal with is the lady
who is sure her bill is wrong. day or
two AGO a gentleman came into the office
and asked me if his wife had been IN TO
see us, ! told him she had. and tnat sne
had scolded us roundly for the bill being
so large. She said we thought just be
cause She had put another story on her
bonse we must put another story on the
bill The gas burned at her house, she de-
clared, didn't amount TO anything. There
was little bit of light in the hall; one
in the dining-room for an hour, which was
turned out when they went into the sit
tine-room, where they stayed until III
o'clock, and then all the lights were extin-
guished.
"Oh, the bills all right" remarked the
husband with hearty laugh. She thinks
she doesn't burn any gas. The other
morning 1 was busy at the office until
about half-past 2. When l went home
there was light as big as my hand in the
bathroom, which my wife had lighted and
forgotten to turn out, and another of the
same size in the hall She doesn't remem-
Der, that's all"