Evening star., 1936-10-02
GAS OFFICIALS
.CONS|DER|NGNEW
PURCHASE OFFER
Petition Denied for Acquir-
ing Alexandria and Hyatts.
vile Concerns.
S1,375,OO0 MERGER
"N0T BEST FOR PUBLIC"
Price Would Be Lowered if Pro-
posal is Revived, in Opinion
of Peoples Counsel.

Oficials OF the Washington Gas
Light Co. were debating today whether
to submit a new offer for the purchase
from its own parent trust the proper
ties of the Alexandria and Hyattsville
gas companies. Their petition for per-
mission to pay s1,375,000 in cash for
the suburban properties was denied by
the Public Utilities Commission yes
terday.
The commission rejected the propo-
sal, saying 1t found the consolidation
at the stated price would not be In
public interest.
Peoples Counsel William A. Rob-
erts, who filed a brief with the COM
mission yesterday. urging approval OF
the petition, said he believed it likely
/. the company would submit new offer
ut a somewhat lower price.
Offcials of the Washington company
studied the question last night, bu;
we're not prepared shortly after the
commissions order was announced to
say If q new petition would be filed.
The Washington & Suburban
Cos, the Massachusetts, commoS-
law trust, which controls the Washing
ton company as we'll as the Alexandria
and Hyattsville concerns, will dictate
. the next move, it was expected, since
1t would be the recipient of the price
to be paid.
No Alternate Plan.
The commission did not give any in
dication of what price or what other
terms it might be ready to accept, but
it did not close the door against the
proposed merger. 1t pointed to the
price as the reason for its decision.
One reason the petition was re-
jected was that counsel for the Wash
ington company, John Bruton. de-
clared at the end of the public hear
ing Tuesday that "the price of $l,375,-
900, and nothing else" was before the
commission.
Rejection of the petition was pre-
dicted by those who followed the case
In support of the commissions de-
cision was testimony that the Alexan-
dria company had never paid divi-
dends, that it had not been able to
pay interest on the greater part OF
an 100000 debt. The Hyattsville
company paid a quarterly dividend Of
so cents per share in 1888 and 1885
and in 1896 of IS cents.
The trust has planned to sell all its
100000 shares of the common stock
Of the Washington company, or 81
per cent of the total. It has been
calculated the trust would lose some
100000 in bringing its control OF
the Washington company to an end,
judging from present quotations for
the stock Payment of $1,375, 900 for
the two suburban concerns would have
cut its losses by that amount.
Bank Loans Planned.
The Washington company planned
10 obtain bank loans to get cash to
pay for the two suburban companies
and later to issue $3,000,000 of pre-
ferred stock, to be sold to the public,
to retire the bank loans and to pro-
vide funds needed for Washington
company improvements.
Experts for the commission and the
Washington company presented wide
iy different views on the value of the
Hyattsville and Alexandra plants.
Peoples Counsel Roberts, while sug-
eesting that the price of $1,375, 900
was too high, urged the commission
to accept it as the best price that
could be agreed upon at this time,
and raised the fear that rejection of
the petition would open the door to
entrance of the Associated Gas g. Elec.
trio Co. to buy control in the Alex
andria company and perhaps also in
the Washington company.
The Washington company, Roberts
said, must raise cash soon to retire a
large amount of outstanding bonds,
that if the trust found it necessary to
sell its stock holdings in the Wash
ington company in large blocks, "for-
eign" control might be shifted but
not ended.