Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-08-23
GAS PROBE
into RATES
/. IS TARTEN
State Public Wilftiea
Board Meets Here
to Get Data.
REASONABLENESS OPP. s.
PRICE, SUBJECT OF'INQtHRifls|
President McCarter Says 1t Will
Take Four Months to Get
information. H
REASONABLENESS OF p. s.
PRICE, SUBJECT OF'INQtHRYg|

In 1t general inquiry into tho reaBokzaz3
ableness of rates charged for gas. the5Gi
state Board of Public Utilities met a&id
the Court House today, with formeH#
state Senator Thomas J. Hillery actiuE$S
as the presiding officer. and took pred
liminary steps as to the investigationsH
as far as the Public Service Gas Com>8
pany is concerned. il
President Thomas N. McCarter, jrsi8a
who represented the Public Servioa$5
Corporation, together with L. .. Howl
ard Gimour, told the commission tha9#l
the question of furnishing informatiorlg
involved a vast amount of time and theMi
expenditure of a good deal of money.
Doesn't Balk at Money Outlay.
While he did not baik at the ezg. ]
penditure of money, he said, he d<3aa
think tEut very much time would balJ
consumed, although the company wasppij
ready and willing to do it's sharald
toward furtherlng the work OF the com<
mission. n
"Can you give the commission ariH
Idea as to the time II would require tod
furnish the information?" asked Mr.;
Hillery, referring to the socalled PatepSx
SON Passaic district, which is the firsteaa
to be carefully gone into.
Yes, SIR" answered Mr. McCarteUS6s
our people think that to give you thay
information you require as to thdlH
valuation of the plant and soforttt@
would take about four months
In this Mr.. McCarter was corrobors&5
ated by several of the officials, wh0Si
look after the gas end of the company'el3
business. e
The order issued by the commissionej
directs the gas company to list witt172
II its gross earnings, etc. in the Paters
SON Passaic district, and the commis-sE
sion today sought to find out how lona#
il would be before the data could ben
turned over to 1t, so that the real in-l
quiry can so on d
w w. Randolph the gas expert emse#
ployed by the company, was sure thatfH
1t would at least take four months toH
get the proper data, and another of thef&
company's men declared more am-s%
biguously that the details involved inf&
securing the data would take "a great#
deal of time" and that at least so per4s
cent of the operating force would@
have to get busy on the job. n
Depends Upon state of Records. /:
When Mr.. Randolph was asked howf&
long it would take to merely give ann
inventory and dappraisal of all the props
critics in the streets, he said thasS
would depend entirely upon the com-&
pleteness of the company's records.
Mr. McCarter supplemented this byfsS
saying that back of eight years therss]
weren much of records to be had, an&N
added; I
I'VE have no disposition to daily a b
play for time We are entitled to every 4
dollar of our valuation, and 1t wilEN
take a long time to find out what thaes5
valuation is z
George l.. Record, who representedts
Passaic, told the commission that hag%
had studied the problem and decide6#
that the physical valuation of the gaa#
property could be made within three
weeks He added that he didn't lika;3
the idea of taking the compaay'AH
figures without being verified and fnal1l
" flung out the suggestion that thaSA
commission should investigate theiH
physical valuation of the property or
Its own account after 1t had secursa&H
access to the company's books. !
Problem simple. He Says. )
Mr.. Record told how rapidly vai,7-sS
ations of property of this kind-gadz%
pipes etc.--had been secured in JerseHX
City, as the problem was a simple ona62
OF calculation. The valuation of the&N
tanks las also most readily seeureds& u
he said he knew, almost within week.
THE problem is simple, if you wants
to make it so" he added; but ex-s&
traordlnarily complicated il you wants
to make it So"
H. L..
turned, 50 Mr.. Record assured th@H
commission, it WAS again an easy mat@s5
ter TO fix the rates. ]
IT'S all matter of most extraorda4M
naI ease" he said but it takes son6E
time. like saving wood"
DO you mean to say" asked ProAs,
fessor Winthrop M Daniels. the ontY4l5
other member of the commission pres.s&
ent besides Mr. Hllery, that your ex+&
pert in Passaic can get at the physicaaN
valuation within three weeks?"
"Oh, easily, easily assured Mr. Rec-%
ord airily and the gas experts grinnedN
broadly. Mr. Record digressed at this&k
point to show, for some reason of hisM
own, that he could prove within fewt i
hours that no railroad held a fran-ki
ehise that was any good and told whafk;
he had done in railroad valuations.
Former Assemblyman Thomas Fsei
MeCran, representing Patersonsf
came down to the point by say4E
ing that that city was ready to engags4ss
experts If necessary, and the only ques4rs
tion was when the physical valuationsss .
are to be made.
President McCarter finally said that;
in order to shorten matters he woulde
make a stipulation to the effect tharN
he was willing to place the physical !,
valuation of the Paterson-Passaic dis-s
trict at 100000. This, he said waA
on the basis for each thousatd euhia
feat Of gas sald,