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223
diency of an alteration in the standard of light prescribed by the
statutes. The statutory standard is a sperm candle of six to the
pound, burning 120 grains an hour, and the gas 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
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
powers.
2. As regards purity. The gas was wholly free from
sulphuretted hydrogen throughout the year, and the average
quantity of sulphur compounds with which the gas was charged,
was usually less than a half of the maximum amount allowed, the
maximum not being attained on any occasion.

Ammonia, a valuable residual product of gas manufacture,
was present in the gas in slight quantities, never in excess of the
quantity permitted by the Acts of Parliament. The average
was considerably below the Parliamentary maximum, four grains
in 100 feet of gas.
The Chief Gas Examiner is altogether independent of the
Company ; it is satisfactory, therefore, to note that his reports of
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,