Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1900-06-26
Good Returns From
Municipal Enterprises

Any one skeptical of the results of
municipal operation should carefully
study English gas history. not only be-
cause, next to water, the gas industry
and its management by municipalities
Is the oldest of any municipal under
taking for profit, but because most OF
the opponents of such public operation
have given up the fight against public
operation of water works and COnCen-
tTated attention on gas and electricity.
| have made study of 1903 private
owned gas companies and - public
plants In northern counties, using tn"
latest returns to the House of Com
mons that are at hand, viz, those for
the fiscal year 1898. These private
companies. with sales of 1851 i0j 900
feet. received from gas, rent of meters
and stoves and from resduals and 9TH
CT sources IA cents per 1000 feet.
The public plants, selling 2O,5ll 1891 900
feet, obtained 15.i cents. or seven
tonths of cent more than the private
companies. On the other hand. not
only were the operating expenses. be-
fore deducting residuals, 2.3 cents less
In the public plants, being 52.i cents
l'l ls''' l''A. Us 'OliBhi'h WIN 'f't
cents in the private companies, but the
consumer obtained three advantages
from his slightly higher payment of
less than three-quarters of cent per
1000 feet on the average. One of these
advantages arose from the consider
able payment to the sinking fund, so
that ultimately, after the debt has been
paid, the cities will be able to sell
gas at merely operating cost, If they
50 desire. In the second place, so far
as the consumer Is Il taxpayer, relief in
tax burden from the net profits of the
gas works equaled in large proportion
Of cases the very slight advantage Of
the gas consumers of the public plants,
and one that alone much more than
COunterbalanCes the above three-Quar-
tiers Of cent of increased charge, was
the higher candle power. OF the gas
sold by the public plants in these sin
northern counties, AIS per cent was
above 1875 candle power and only 2.3
per cent was below 1865 candle power,
while of the sales by the private com
panies only 27.5 per cent was above
1875 candle power, and 81 per cent was
below lG.5 candle power. A clearer IL
lustration of the superiority of public
management under what the critics
consider substantially similar condi-
lions could not be imagined. To be
sure the average sales of the 1903 pri-
vate plants, of about l42 ,000, 900 feet,
was considerably less than the average
sales of 100000 900 feet in the public
plants, but after the output of plant
reaches 5000 600 feet the economies
do not increase rapidly with the in
crease of another 1870 900, 900 feet. In
the above companies Is sold nearly one
..alf of the gas OF the public owned
plants and one-fifth OF that of the pri-
yate-owned plants of the United King
dom.
II is no wonder that during the past
ten years thirty-eight private gas
works have been bought by cities and
no changes have occurred in the OPP
posite direction In Great Britain. There
would be much more rapid change to
public ownership of the gas industry
were it not for the English laws, which
prevent a municipality entering upon
this business without first buying out
the existing company at its franchise
value. Gas franchises In England were
granted many decades ago, before limi-
tatiOns of time and provisions for pub
lie purchase at reasonable prices We're
thought of.
On March 6, 1899, the Local Govern
ment Board, as previously ordered by
the House of Commons, submitted re-
turn of all the leading municipal un-
dertakings from which any revenue is
derived in the United Kingdom IL ap-