Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-06-26

Citizens whose hopes for relief from
dollar q month gas conferred in the legal
opoinion Of City Solicitor John ]. Coniff
will be disappointed. The City Solicitor
has thoroughly investigated the subject
and at last night meeting OF Council
rendered the opinion that there was
nothing In the franchise ordinance to
enable6the city to institute proceedings
against the Natural Gas Company of
West Virginia The full text OF Mr..
Conitf's opinion. as read to Council last.
night, il as follows:
TO the Honorable Mayor and Council:
At the last meeting of Council reso-
luton was passed directing the City So
licitor to examine into the question of
whether the charge of one dollar per
month, meter rent, against persons who
consume less than a dollars worth OF
gas by the Natural Gas Company OF
West Virginia is violation of the fran
chise granted by the city of Wheeling,
and, If so. what steps should be taken
to protect the citizens.
A careful investigation of this ques-
ton has been made by. me. The, only
ordinance now In existence concerning
the rates which shall be charged for gas
consumed is an ordinance passed by
Council March "a. 1896, which ordinance
was an amendment and reordination OF
the ordinance heretofore passed on April
II, 1885.
Section ! of the ordinance of March
l, 1896, provides as follows:
1T is the further condition OF said
grant that such company, in considera-
ton thereof, shall not, after July 20,
1896, charge the citizens of said city
over twenty cents for every one thou
sand cubic feet of gas consumed or
taken, and that whenever such company
shall be charging maximum rate al
lowed by this ordinance that a discount
OF two per cent per thousand feet shall
be allowed by all consumers who shall
pay their bills at the office of the COM
pany on or before the tenth day of each
calendar month for the gas consumed
or taken during the previous month.
But nothing contained in this ordinance
Is to be construed as interfering with
special contract to any consumer.
1t is further provided in section OF
said ordinance as follows:
And be it further ordained that in
case said, company shall not sufficiently
increase the supply of natural gas, then
the Council reserves the right to repeal
this amendment, and upon such repeal
section five of said original ordinance
shall be restored with line effect as II
this amendment had not been made
Section of said ordinance referred
to in the last section is a part of the
ordinance Of April IL. 1885, and 1t is
the same as section 1, herein referred to
except that the ordinance price for gas
is fifteen cents per thousand cubic feet
without any discount.
The provisions of the ordinance OF
1896 were duly accepted by the natural
gas company, and its acceptance prop
erly filed with the city clerk.
The ordinance of April II, 1885, and
of March "a 1896, contains no other re-
strictions or penalties than the one con-
tanned in Section two, above quoted,
and neither of said ordinances contains
any forfeiture clauses or touches the
question of meter rent.
When the consumer applies to the
gas company for gas he signs written
contract which contains the following
provision: Third, To pay on presen-
tation OF bills the following charges:
for setting meter IS, and when the con-
sumption of gas for any month shall be
IN ?under 5000 cubic feet, meter rent Of
one dollar, but 10 bill for gas, will be
rendered for such month
No rent will be charged for the meter
for any month when at its end, or at
the time during the month OF making
bills, bill can be made for 5000 cubic
feet OF gas or more. When at the time
OF making bills for any month the
quantity consumed since the last bill
for gas is less than 5000 cubic feet, the
amount will be included in the next
months consumption and a meter rent
of one dollar charged for such month"
The question submitted to me Is
whether under the above ordinances and