The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1907-06-18
LIGHTING
CONDITIONS
Report Of the Citizens Commit
tee made at the Meeting
Held June 8, 1907.
EXPERTS REPORTS ON PLANTS
3 the Citizens Of Morristown:

the following resolution was passed;
WHEREAS the citizens of2Morris-
town are dependent upon the NORRIS
town Gas Light Co. and the United
Electric Co. for both public and pri-
WHEREAS, we citizens of Norris
town. feel aggrieved at the poor SER
vice. and the excessive prices, charged
by said companies for such lighting,
and at their continual failure to COM
ply with the terms of their contracts
with the town:
And WHEREAS by frequent breaks
occurring to the Electric Plant, alarge
part of the town has, on numerous oc-
casions during the last few months
been plunged in total darkness great
ly to the discomfort of the citizens
and to the pecuniary loss of it's mer-
chants at a time of the year when
brilliant illumination was most neces-
sary to their business:
Now therefore be it RESOLVED
that we do hereby protest against the
service both public and private fur
nished by said companies and against
the prices charged therefor to the
town and to Individual citizens
RESOLVED that committee Of
known as the Citizens Lighting Com
mittee, composed as follows: The
Mayor-elec the retiring mayor, the
chairman when appointed of the Com
mittee on Street Lamps of the new
Board of Aldermen, two members OF
the Business Mems Association to be
named by that association ana TWO
members of the Civic Association to
be named by that association, such
committee to elect its own chairman:
RESOLVED that said Committee be
requested with all convenient speed
to seek some remedy for the present
unsatisfactory condition of affairs by
securing from companies now eXistin s
or to be formed propositions to fur
nish good service at reasonable rates
and with strong guarantees assuring
the continuation of such good service,
or if this be found impracticable then
to investigate and report upon mu-
And RESOLVED that said Commit
tee be requested to report with all
possible dispatch to a meeting of the
citizens the result OF It's EFFORTS ana
it's recommendations
Of the persons designated in the
\ resolution G. A. Reed, S. H. Gillespie,
F. l.. Humphreys, G. F. Wilson and
S. B. Carson accepted the appoint
ment and herewith present their re-
port.
The committee has made no investi-
cation of the advisibility of municipal
" owned lighting plants at Norris
town as it is advised that under the
law as it now is such plant could
not be acquired or operated by Nor
ristown.
Since very material reductions
were made at about the time your
committee was appointed in the prices
charged by the local companies both
for gas and for electricity, we have
considered it the most important part
of our duty to ascertain (1) whether
the works of the gas company and
the local works of the electric COM
pany were in condition, when proper
ly run, to give product of the guam
tity and quality the citizens of Morris
town are entitled to and (2) whether
they were being so run as to give the
best results which they were capable
of producing.
PROCEDURES: Your committee
procured the services of Mr.. A. B.
Beadle. of the firm of Beadle & Max
well, consulting engineers, to make
an investigation of the Morristown
Gas Works, and also to assist the COM
mittee in its investigation.
Application was made to the Nor
ristown Gas Co. for permission to ex-
anime its plant with an expert for the
purpose of seeing if the plant was
adequate, and what was the general
economy of, its operations After
some delay such permission was
granted. A thorough examination of
the works was made accompanied by
Mr.. Beadle and attended by Mr.. r. D.
Foote, president of the gas company,
and DR.. A. G. Humphries, the expert
representing the company. Mr.. Bea-
dies report of this examination is
annexed hereto.
Another examination of the works
was made by Mr. Spice. His report
corroborated the findings of Mr.. Bea-
die. Your committee held one con-
ference with President r. D. Foote
and Mr., John l. Waterbury, of the
gas company, and two conferences
with Mr.. Foote and DR.. A. G. Humph-
reys, the expert of the company, and
discussed our experts reports and the
recommendations made therein.
FINDINGS.
Plant.
Both of our experts reported favor
ably upon the present general condi-
tion of the gas works. They found
the plant now adequate to take care
of the consumption in Morristown,
with safe margin of supply availa-
Bile.
Most of the gas machinery is new
and modern, having been installed
within the past year Further our
experts stated, that if the plant were
carefully superintended, it could be
operated economically. and would
produce satisfactory gas.
The experts criticised the absence
Of modern testing apparatus, and also
the lack of proper care being taken to
make uniform mixture and con-
stant quality of gas.
Since the first visit to the plant,
the company has installed in its office
photometric instrument and a "a
hour recording pressure gauge and
have on hand three other pressure
gauges of the same kind to test the
pressure of gas, from time to time,
whenever found necessary in any 10
cality. =
Mains.
Your committee met with difficulty
in obtaining any actual knowl-
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