Evening star., 1903-09-23
PAYING LIGHT BILLS
AUDITOR WANTS METER READ
INGs VERIFIED.
Gives Cogent Reasons in Communica-
ton Sent to District Com
missioners Today.

The Commissioners this morning received
communication from Auditor John r.
Garrison calling their attention to the ne
cessity of having some one verify the read
ings made of gas and electric meters in
the various police and fire engine houses
and other buildings controlled by the Dis
trict government before the company's
bills are certified for payment.
Attention Is invited to the fact that for
a long while the District has been paying
lighting bills for Freedmen's Hospital in
accordance with readings made Of the meter
for Howard University. In this case the
District prof1ted. as the university bills
were less than those for the hospital. but,
it Is stated. the shoe might have been on
the other foot. MIR. Garrison says:
Mr. Garrison's Letter.
IT have the honor to invite your atten-
ton to the inclosed memorandum. in rela-
ton to the approval of bills for gas and
electric lighting, showing the necessity
that some competent official should month
ly inspect the gas meters and electric
light meters for the various branches Of
the District government and verify the
correctness of bills for gas and electric
lighting.
II am not prepared to recommend in what
complished, but the necessity therefor is
manifest. Under the existing system the
officials who certify and approve gas bills
and bills for electric lighting have no means
Of knowing whether or not the meters have
been accurately read and the bills as pre-
sented are correct.
Suggests Conference.
mo bills for gas light or electric lighting
for the government of the United States In
the District of Columbia are paid without a
certificate showing that the meters have
been inspected and that the charges in the
bills are correct. such certificate being made
by the superintendent of meters employed
by the United States and paid from the
appropriation for lighting the Capitol
grounds.
II respectfully suggest that a conference
with Mr.. Bailey, the superintendent of me-
ters employed by the United States, may
lead to valuable suggestions with respect
to the inspection of gas and electric light
meters for the District
Auditors Memorandum.
The memorandum to which the auditor re-
ferred was prepared in his Office and reads
as follows:
AT the time the gas bills were passed
last month 1t was the intention of the au-
ditor to confer with the Commissioners re-
spectng the certificate or approval attached
to the gas bills against the several offices,
station houses. etc. Heretofore the ap-
proYal of the bills has been largely, if not
entirely, a matter of form, as no one ap-
pears to have been required to watch the
meters so to observe whether the bills
were correct rendered.
The same condition of affairs undoubted
ly exists in regard to the bills for electric
lighting of the District building and other
municipal buildings. Under the Commits
to be furnished by the electric lighting
company by which the current was to be
computed by Watt hours. AS it is, the bills
are rendered at the agreed rate. but 1t is
very doubtful whether any attention is
paid to the meters.
A Case in Point
fact that we have been paying for a num-
ber of months bills rendered against the
Freedman's Hospital based upon the rea%
ing Of meter in Howard University. 1t
SO happens that the amounts each month
were less, as I recall 1t, but 1t would have
been all the same If they had been greatly
In excess of the true amount due from the
District"
AS a result of these communications,
Commissioner West has recommended to
his associates that in the future the desk
sergeants at police stations, the foreman
or man in charge at fire engine houses, and
the heads of the various institutions whera
gas or electric meters are located, shall
each month accompany the reader from
the lighting companies. Subsequently the
bills shall be presented to these officials
for verification and certificates Of correct