Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-13
u. S. AGENTS ASKED
TO AID IN PROBE OF
GAS TRANSACTIONS

Continued From First Page.)
companies. The purpose Of the inves-
tigation now under way is to show Just
how far this relationship extends and
whether basis exists for invoking the
La Toilette act, which forbids q for
eign utility corporation from owning or
controlling q Washington public utility.
Mr.. Roberts was sent to Boston, head
quarters of the now apparently defunct
Seaboard Investment Trust, and its sue
ceSsor, the Washington Suburban Com
panies, to ascertain the financial struc-
ture of the new holding company. Mr..
Bride was in communication with him
soon after his arrival there at O'Clock
this morning, and instructed him spe-
ciflcally to find out how the new holding
company proposes to earn all of the
bond interest and the guaranteed in
terest on preferred stock, as set forth
in the prospectus Of the SO, 500, 900 bond
issue hoated March /.
Data given Mr.. Roberts was to the
effect that the Washington and Sub
urban companies has undertaken to pay
$777, 800 q year in fixed return on the
new securities, whereas the four operat-
ing companies that must be depended
upon to earn this return have in the
past yielded less than 100000 Q year
in net income.
Letter Tells Of Change.
Although Donald Mcpherson, general
counsel for the Central Public Service
Corporation, denied several days ago
through Wilton j. Lambert, attorney
for the Washington Gas Light Co.,
that the corporation had q manage
ment contract with the washington 81
Suburban Cos, a news letter distrib-
uted in Washington financial circles
by Aver and associates Of Chicago said:
THE Washington Gas Light Co., the
Alexandria Gas Co., Washington Sub
urban Gas Co. and the New York e.
Richmond Gas Co. have been placed
Public Service Corporation and here
after will be operated as integral parts
of its system"
The letter of Aver and associates de-
clared that the information it con-
tanned had been approved by the Cen
trail Public Service Corporation, one Of
its clients.
The Central Public Service Corpora
ton, according to information gathere
in Washington financial circles, has
total assets in excess of $500 900 900,
and recently its earnings have been at
the rate Of $4,000, 900 q year.
Organized In 1928.
The company was incorporated in
Maryland on November !, 1923, as the
Southern Gas & Power Corporation.
According TO Standard Corporation rec
ords, the Central Public Service Cor
poration furnished, last year, one or
more classes of utility service to 468
communities in "a States and 2 prov
inces in Canada. While 1t has furnished
electricity and manufactured gas in
most of the communities SERVED in the
past, the corporation has more recently
entered the natural gas production field
in substantial way.
Communities in Maryland, Virginia
and West Virginia are among those
which have been served by the company
for some time. Utility plants at Lynch
burg and Roanoke, Va, are among
those closely connected with the Chi
cago concern.
Properties controlled by the corpor-
alton include electric power stations
with 292, 1877 horsepower capacity, 6,785
miles of transmission lines, gas plants
with daily capacity of 81 ,403 900 cubic
feet, and 6,616 miles Of gas mains;
also water pumping plants with total
daily capacity Of $685. 900 gallons with
70 miles of connected mains, and 400
miles of electric railway trackage.
Standard Corporation records states
that the Chicago corporation had some
~ subsidiaries connected with its last
year, the franchises of these sub
salaries, with few exceptions, extending
beyond 1s49.