Arizona republican., 1911-09-07
Engineer Will Investigate
 Lighting Question
CONTRACT WITH p. {. CO.
None Has Been Made and None Will Be Unless It Is the Advisable Thing to do and the Terms are Fair.

Mayor Lloyd B. Christy yesterday forwarded a letter to James E. Barker of Los Angeles, an expert electrical engineer now employed in the Owens river aqueduct construction. requesting him to come to Phoenix at his earl jest convenience. make a thorough in- speCtiOn Of the lighting conditions, and confer with the city council as to the advisability of it's making new con- tract with the Pacific Gas and Electric company, and as to the advisable dur atiOn of such a contract should any be made This action was taken with the authority of the council, after cer- tain other preliminaries which will be related The above is the net result of a conference held by the members of the council. at a meeting held sur reptitiOusly. clandestinely. and without previously notifying all its critics and all the fault finders in the communi- ty. Of course the latter jumped to the conclusion that the council was engaged in selling out to the lighting company, when the only business be- fore the house was to see that the city was protected in every way pos sible against the making of any i'm proper contract.
 And it all happened ir this way. The time of year arrived when the mayor felt that he need ed a little vacation. It was also the time of the year when the P. G. Cos. contract was expiring and something had to be done in respect of city light ing. The council has all along been a great deal more concerned in avoid ing any mistake in the matter, than its critics were in seeing that it made no mistake. NIT. ChriSty managed to secure two weeks vacation from his banking business and went to Long Beach. under the shadow of Los An geles. where the only business worry he would have would be to reflect upon the lighting situation in Phoenix. He felt that he could get more disinter- ested information in Los Angeles, on the lighting question, than anywhere else in the west.
 At his earliest opportunity he called upon the city electrician of Los An geles and appropriated two days of that gentlemans valuable time in plac- ing before him all the facts concern ing the lighting situation in Phoenix, the past, present and possibly future contracts with the P. c. Co. and the possibilities of a municipal plant and the use of government power.
 The Los Angeles city electrician ad- vised the mavor to have the council employ an expert engineer to come here and look into the situation care fully and in all details, making such recommendations as he deems desira- ble. The mayor then asked the Los Angeles official if he could recommend an engineer competent to perform such a task and he recommended MT. Bar ker Then the mayor wrote a letter to the council asking authority to em- ploy MT Barker. It was that letter from the mayor the council was so deeply absorbed in few nights ago, as a committee Of the whole behind closed doors and which so alarmed its critics because its cogitations were not audible. When the mayor returned the council was ready and gave him the authority he asked for and under which he acted yesterday.