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35
Several communications on the subject passed between the
Secretary to the Gas Company and myself, the explanation given
being that the excess was due to a temporary derangement of the
purifying apparatus, consequent on alterations and additions being
made at the Kensal "Works. No steps, therefore, were taken to
enforce the penalties of the Act. During the current year I may
mention there has been no cause of complaint. Sulphuretted
hydrogen was twice found in "traces" in the gas in the month
of November, and its presence doubtless was due to the same
accidental cause. The price of the 23 candle Gas at the commencement
of the year was five shillings and five pence per 1000
cubic feet. Towards the end of the month of January, the
Company applied to the Board of Trade for a revision of the price.
Commissioners were appointed as by law directed, and they decided
that the maximum price to be charged for the Gas during the
year should be six shillings and three pence, an increase of ten
pence. Great dissatisfaction was caused by this rise; and a good
deal of opposition being made, the Company determined to reduce
the illuminating power of the gas to 20 candles, and to charge five
shillings and five pence per 1000 feet for it. It may be added
that at the beginning of the current year (1874), the Company
applied again to the Board of Trade for a revision of price, and
the Commissioners again raised the price by the sum of ten pence
per 1000 feet, making the charge, for 1874, six shillings and three
pence for 20 candle Gas—just fifteen pence (an increase of 25 per
cent.) above the charge made for the same quality of Gas by the
Western Company, prior to the amalgamation of the Companies.
The Company having expressed their willingness to supply
Common Gas of 16 candle power after the month of June, 1874,
your Vestry approved the change, which has now come into
operation; whether the results will be satisfactory remains to be
seen, and may reasonably be doubted. The price charged for
this 16 candle Gas in 1874, will be five shillings per 1000 feet,
or just the sum charged by the Western Company for 20 candle
Cannel Gas.
In conclusion, I have to express my satisfaction at the manner
in which the several important duties of their office have been
performed by the Sanitary Inspectors—satisfaction tinctured with
regret, that, owing to the enormous increase in the number of
houses, and the great extent and irregular configuration of the
parish, they are unable to make such regular and systematic
inspections of all houses in streets occupied by the poor as I could
wish. The inspection is, to a large extent, of a "hand to mouth"
description, rarely a day passing which does not call for special
visits to distant portions of the unwieldy districts of the officers,
which necessarily occupy a good deal of time. The only remedy
is an increase in the number of the staff, rendered more than ever
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