The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-18

officers who will protect the governed
against injustice on the part of indi-
yiduals or corporations.
| Mr.. Maltbie's Review. British Gas
! Lighting.
The gas plants examined by the
Investigating Committee of the Com
mission were those conducted by the
| municipalities of Birmingham, Glas-
gov, Manchester and LEICESTER, and
by private companies at Sheffield, the
| Newcastle and Gateshead Company,
and the South Metropolitan Company
of London. On the important subject,
of maintenance of plants, ETC., Mr..
| Maltbie says tnat during last year ev-
| cry municipality set aside out of earn
| ing larger total to -naintain or eX-
tend the plant or wipe out indebted
| ness than did any ISrivate company.
AS to the price of gas to the consum-
er. Mr.. Maltbie points out that the
private company at Sheffield is able
to buy good gas and coke-making coal
at a lower price than any other COM
pany or municipality ald finds a mar
ket for its coke at its very door in
| which it receives more per ton than
any other undertaking save one; and
| that 1t sold its by-products for more
tnan the cost of it's coal, oil and other
supplies, making profit thereon of 2.13d
per thousand cubic feet of gas sold
No other undertaking was so fortu-
nate, and comparison as regards
| prices and costs between Sheffield
and any other plant not so well sit
uated would be misleading and un-
| fair
In order to reduce the undertakings
| to a fair basis of comparison, says
Mr.. Maltbie, suppose we assume that
| the residuals paid the cost of gas
materials in every plant. To deter
| mine what the price of gas would
have been under equal conditions, it
is necessary to subtract the net cost
| of the coal from the average price at
which gas was sold during the year
| 1t has already been pointed out that
certain deductions should also be
! made to equalize charges for mainte-
| nance, rates and taxes, contributions
to the public funds, etc. Making these
deductions, it is found that the aver
| age price at which gas could have
been sold by the municipal plants
| would have been 16.S4d. per thousand
! feet and the private companies 21.31d
provided that residuals had just paid
for gas materials, that the same
amount N.50d. per thousand) had
been spent by each plant for mainte-
nance. depreciation and taxes, that
nothing had been paid to relieve tax
alton, and that all plants were on an
equality in these regards.
In operating expenses there is not
much difference between the munich
pal and private plants, the differenc-
es in expenses being confined to inter
est, dividends and credit balance, and
in these items he finds the municipali-
ties superior in that their charges
therefor average 3.31d. per thousand
while the private companies expendi-
lures for the same purpose average
7.53d. OF 1-3 times as much. This
condition he finds to be due to the
higher rate of interest and profit, and
the greater amount OF liabilities of
the private plant.
Character of Service.
Price without regard to quality, is
a tale half told, says Mr.. Maltbie, and
the most important element in quality
is continuity of supply. All of the
undertakings examined, he sets forth,
have a good record in this respect,
and barring the few accidents, which
happen in all plants, gas has been
continuously furnished, both by the
companies and the cities. He finds
however, that the municipalities are
better prepared to furnish an uninter
rupted supply during a strike than the
private companies for these have car
buretted water gas plants. with ca
pacity equal to about one-Quarter of
the entire capacity, whereas only one
private company has a water gas
plant and it cannot produce more than
one-tenth of the total output. The
quality of the gas itself, that is its
candle power, Mr.. Maltbie finds to be
superior in the municipal plants ac-
cording to the official reports. The
charge was made, however, that the
tests were not fair, in that the muni-
cipalities tested their own gas, while
| that of the companies was tested by
an official examiner not connected
with the companies. Mr.. Maltbie de-
clares, however, tnat investigation
showed that so far as the independ-
ence and reliability and accuracy of
the persons making the tests of can
die power are concerned there is 40
difference between the companies and
the municipalities, except possibly
Leicester, and there the allowance
would be very small.
Operating Efficiency.
The municipal plants Mr.. Maltbie
found to be conducted with greater
efficiency than the private undertak-
ings. Thus, in the municipal gas
plants, the loss due to leakage and
gas used at work was 695 per cent. of
the gas made and the companies SIT
per cent. The amount per mile of
mains was 359 thousand cubic feet for
all municipalities and 4S9 thousand GU
bic feet for all companies, still great
er difference, which is due again to
the larger number of miles of, mains
which the municipalities have. The
difference between all the municipali-
ties and all the companies is more
than the difference between the four
municipalities and the three compan-
ies-a fact which goes to show that
| the municipal plants selected for ex-
tensive examination are not the only
good instances of municipal opera
ton.
Progress.
| Discussing progress and the intro
duction of new inventions, Mr.. Malt
bie,s view is that the municipal plants
are as modern, as efficient, and as
fully up-to-date as the company un-
dertakings 1t has also been sRQw1, he
declares, that the municipal plants
yield good results. viewed from the
standpoint of operating efficiency. He
also gives 1t as his opinion that the
encouragement given to the produc-
tion of new inventions and the discov-
cry of new processes by probable de
5wnond fo~ fhor 10 Qarfaiu1v aS great