The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-12-29
The Street

live up to its contract on furnishing
lights and power to the citizens of tn
town, was discussed. Two representa-
tives of the corporation were present
One was Mr.. Young. who appeared Il
have some authority, the other was MI
Barnes, who has apparently thought b
was in authority, but who seems to hav
been unable to deliver the goods.
The chairman of the committee callet
MIR. Young's attention to the miserable
service that has been given the town dur
ing the last two months. Just befor'
that period the material was on tn,
ground to establish the new service ant
there was a promise that the curren
would be on within four days. Thi
turned out to be simply a promise
Then the committee got after the cor
poration and there came an ironclac
statement, a week ago, that the work hat
been completed. This was worse thar
a promise. 1t was simply a lie.
As a result of the imperfect service and
the failure to furnish lights the commit
tee, for the month of November, deduct
ed SO percent. of the price to be paid tt
the Public Service Company. Mr.. Barnes
asked for an explanation how the com
mittee reached thatpercentage. He said
he would be called upon by his superiorf
to make some sort of a report and he
wanted to know how to explain a so per.
cent. reduction. The committee told
him that there had not been over SO per.
cent. of service and he might consider
himself lucky that more was not taken
off.
The reduction, however, did not seem
TO make any difference. On the 18th
of this month there we're lis lamps on one
circuit nearly all night and those
which were burning were not much
account. They burn brightly for
then they die down, jump up
again, then down again, and SO on
through the night. One member of the
said he had been called out
bed by a man who lived near one of
the Pickering lamps and was told that if
the situation was not improved he would
take a rifle and ''bust the blamed lamp
to pieces"
One part Of Madison avenue was with
out light for ten consecutive nights.
West Washington street was almost as
bad. The contract calls for long arms
on the poles, but new lights have been
placed On the old arms and when the
workmen were told they would have to
make a change they simply smiled and
said they were obeying orders. One of
the amusing conditions the night the lis
were dark was that one Of the
lights wa out all night but burned
brightly all the next day.
All of this discussion led to the in
quiry Who is boss, anyhow" and Mr..
assumed that position. This was
what was wanted as it had been pretty
we'll demonstrated that Barnes was
either without authority or if he had it
he was unable, for some reason, to assert
It. Young admitted that the situation
n that was certainly aggravating
and should not be. He certainly was.sur-
prised to find matters in such shape,
he had been led to believe that every
hing was progressing nicely. In answer
20 n or two questions he was very
about his position but before he
got through he was not SO sure OF it.
1t was finally decided that the work
should be pushed to completion at once
and Mr.. Young agreed that he would
it his business to look after the
He was toldhe would be held re-
sponsible for further delays and imper-
The trouble appears to be
that there is too much red tape in the
whole transaction. Tom is appealed to
and he refers you to Dick and the latter
practically tells you to go the other fell
low. The size of it is that the corpora
ton is making monkeys of the people
and the Township Committee. So far
promising is concerned the corpora
ton is gilt-edged, but the promises they
have made have not brought results.
Two establishments have been patiently
waiting to install electric motors and
they are still waiting.
What the Township Committee will
10 with the December bill remains to be
seen, but it would justified in withhold
the entire amount until the Public
Service Corporation has given what it
has agreed to.
The latter appears to think it can do
about rs it pleases. AS an instance a
gentleman wanted to run wires to his
house and the corporation said he would
to pay $26 to have the service in
There was a demur and finally
The agent agreed to put in the wires for
nothing.IAnother gentleman, who want
similar service, with possibly 200 feet
less to cover. with no poles to erect, was
told it would cost him $40 to get what he
wanted.
Some time ago the gas department of
the corporation was called upon to
a house on Ridgway street with
gas. The owner was told she could get
what she wanted by paying $40. with
the provision that If another house was
built between her property and the street
from which the main was run she would
be given a rebate. In laying the mains
it was necessary to use regular lengths
and this carried the pipes some distance
beyond the house in question and
opposite another house on the same
street. 1t was desired to install gas in
the latter house. Was the lady who
paid for laying the pipes granted any
concession on this proposition? Not
much, but the party who wanted to get
the gas in the house was allowed to have
that arrangement made by paying rs
cents for opening the street. And that
is the way it works. Mr.. Young remark
ed that when a property owner wants to
get an extension of service, and there is q
prospect of a new house coming in be-
tween, he must make a gamble on the
proposition and run chances. But has
any one ever heard of the Public Service
Corporation taking the gamble" end9
Not a bit of it. They play both ends
and the middle. They are after the
sure thing. High salaries and big div.
idends must be paid.
Your home store wishes you health,
happiness, prosperity, and all the com
pliments of the season.
adv L. S. Boyce, stationer,
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