The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-10-09
MORE LIGHT COMING
Under Mayor Wanser's Plan
Electricity Will Be
Spread Over the
City.
INTERESTING GAS HISTORY
How the Five Years. Contract Was
\ Set Aside and the city's
Money Saved.

Mayor Wanser Of late has received LET
ters from citizens in various parts of the
city complaining that their sections are
not sufficiently lighted at night. If these
good citizens will possess their souls in
patience until December / the cause az
complaint will be lone away with. ana
they will have all the light thew nee,7
The trouble has been tina the Mayor has
oeen. e~ndeavoring 70 light the city with
eieetricity on a gas hight appropriation,
with the result that he has not been able
p supply as many lights as he would
like to.
The Finance Commissioners have in
creased the appropriations for lighting the
city by si3,So0. which would bring the
total sum up to about SIPS, 600 this year.
With this increased appropriation the
Mayor proposes to extend the electric
light system all through the Lafayette
section, where 1t is not yet complete.
through the streets on the east and west
slopes of GreenviHe and through Marion
and the west side of the Hill, old Hudson
City as much as possible. The plans and
specifications for this extension are now
being prepared and bids will be invited
within two weeks. One great improve
ment which the new plan of the Mayor
embraces contemplates the adjustment
of all lights on the top of poles and sub
shutting In their place outrigger from
two to sixteen feet, which will swing the
light toward the centre of the road and
throw its rays further up and down the
street.
The story of the substitution Of electric
lights for the old fashioned gas lamps is
an interesting one. In the spring of 1892,
just before Mayor Wanser went into
office, the city authorities made contracts
for lighting the city with gas, electricity
and oil. The new administration, deem
ing these contracts not to be for the best
interests of the city, certioraried them to
the Supreme Court. That tribunal decid-
ed that two of the contracts were in
valid. An appeal was taken to the Court
of Errors and Appeals and that court
set aside all the contracts on the ground
the proposals were received were de-
~fective, because they did not state the
number Of lights to be bid upon or the
number to be furnished, or give any
data upon which anyone could bid except
the company which already had the con-
tract and knew how many lights were to
be furnished.
1t was In 1895 when this decision was
handed down and in the fall of that year
under the direction of the Mayor the
Street and Water Board had prepared
plans and specifications for a new light
ing system for one year. Under the five
years contract, which the courts set
aside, the price per gas lamp for one
year. was s2o.50, and the same price was
obtained under the Mayors new plan.
There were at that time 1856 gas lights
In the city. The price per year for the
oil lamps, under the five years con-
tract, was $29.s6 per year. and the same
price was obtained under the new plan
for one year. The oil lamps in the city
then numbered 1855. In the five years
contract the price for an electric light of
1900 candle power was sis per year, n
1853 lamps were contracted for. Under the
Mayors plan lamps of 1000 candle power
were secured at an average price of $4,000.
That plan also reduced the number of
gas lamps to $50 and the oil lamps to
1000, while the electric. lights were in
creased to 1872. TIL Mayors plan lighted
with electricity all that section of the
city bounded by the Hudson River, the
Hoboken City line, the Boulevard, New
| ark avenue, West Side avenue, the New
ark and New York Railroad cut, Ocean
avenue, GARFIELD venue and Communi-
| paw avenue. The territory lying outside
Of these lines is lighted with gas and oil.