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153
is required to be of such lighting power as to produce, when consumed
at the rate of five cubic feet an hour, a light equal to that
produced by sixteen such candles. A Committee, appointed by
the Board of Trade, has reported adversely to the continuance
of the use of the sperm candle as a standard, it having been
proved that, in spite of all the precautions taken to secure
uniformity in the manufacture of the candles, there remained considerable
variation in their lighting power. In the Report of the
Metropolitan Board for 1885, no reference is made to the important
matters dealt with in the above paragraph.
2. As regards purity. The gas was free from sulphuretted
hydrogen throughout the year; and the quarterly average quantity
of other sulphur compounds with which the gas was charged, was
usually less than half of the maximum amount allowed; the
maximum not having been attained on any occasion.

Ammonia, a valuable residual product of gas manufacture,
was present in the gas in slight quantities, more or less frequently
throughout the year; but never in quantity approaching the limit
permitted by the Acts of Parliament; viz., four grains in 100 feet
of gas.
The Chief Gas Examiner is independent of the Company; it
is satisfactory, therefore, to note that his reports on the daily
testing of the gas are so favourable.
No complaint was received by me during the year from any
private consumer in respect of the illuminating power of the gas,
and I understand that Mr. Philip Monson, your Vestry's