The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-11-21

AMONG the opinions handed down by
the Supreme Court last week was one
affirming verdict that was rendered In
September, 1910, In a case where the Pub
lie Service Corporation was sued for dam
ages for the destruction of shade trees
alleged to be caused by gas which escaped
from the company's mains. There were 5
trees killed, and the jury rendered a YER
dict for the amount of 81 500. The case
was appealed to the Supreme Court which
body has said the award was all right. In
his charge to the jury In the suit below
the presiding judge said it was the duty
of gas company to use ordinary care and
prudence In laying its pipes and In the
selection of material. He also said 1t was
the duty OF the company to maintain such
q system of inspection as will ensure
reasonable promptness In the detection of
all leaks that may occur from the deteri-
Grafton of the material of the pipes, or
from any other cause within the circum
spection of men of ordinary skill in the
business. Mount Holly has had some ex-
perience in the loss of shade trees from
escaping gas and when the attention of
the Public Service Corporation was called
to the fact they got busy, and found that
gas was escaping so badly that it was
absolutely necessary to lay new pipes on
one street. but instead of acknowledging
that faulty mains were responsible they
tried to put the blame on other things, In
one case insisting the damage was the re-
suit of stroke of lightning. The fact is
that the gas mains in Mount Holly have
not always been of the highest grade. An
Inspector of the company who called to
look into case of the death of a tree said
the pipes In the ground when the Public
Service bought out the local company,
were rotten" and that some of them
were constructed of paper. This line is
said to have been replaced with iron pipe
1t is great shame that people who have
gone to the trouble of planting trees and
having them grow to size when they are
about to be of great value should have
them destroyed when little care and in
spection would prevent such a result
Money cannot compensate for the loss of
beautiful shade trees and while the YER
dict In the Merchsntville case may appear
to be heavy 1t is not too much when the
time taken to bring the trees to a state of
usefulness is considered. The township
authorities Of Northampton ought to take
this matter up for the protection of its
citizens, and to prevent the beauty and
usefulness of trees from being destroyed.
and should insist upon frequentinspection
of the gas lines.
10 this subject the Camden Post Telegram
says: I'm view of the Supreme Courts af-
firmation of verdict of 81, 500 damages
for the destruction of FIVE shade trees in
MerchantviIle by leaking gas. corporations
using the streets and those operating over
head wire systems may be more careful in
their methods and try to safeguard trees
along the property front. A shade trees
value consists not In what 1t will fetch as
firewood but In the service 1t renders as
an ornamental and useful feature of the
property A suburban dwelling bereft
of shade would shrink in value and there
sare few owners of such property who
would accept an amount running into the
hundreds per tree for the removal of all
arboreal adornment from their grounds.