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259
hours of the day and night, and at several points in the Company's
district within the parish, be obtained. I would further
recommend that Mr. Monson be requested to prepare, and that
your Vestry should circulate half-yearly, on the back of the
rate-call papers, information shewing bow gas may be burned
with greatest effect and minimum consumption.* This subject
might easily be enlarged upon, but as your Vestry have in Mr.
Monson an officer able and willing to advise consumers to their
advantage, I content myself with expressing a hope that his
services may be enlisted in their behalf.
The burners now in use consume gas at the rate of 4.5 cubic
feet per hour; whereas the burners formerly in use, originally
provided when Cannel gas was employed, consumed only 3
feet per hour. Notwithstanding the increased consumption of
gas (50 per cent.), and the consequent improvement in the
lighting of the public thoroughfares, the cost, owing to
reduction in price, is less than under the old system of a fixed
annual payment per lamp.
Conclusion.—It now only remains for me, in bringing
this Report to an end, to offer my thanks to all who have contributed
by their assistance to whatever success may have
attended the work of my Department during the past year.
I have had occasion in previous reports to refer to the cooperation
of the Board of Guardians. It would be imposbible to
over-value the services rendered by them in past years, through
their officers, in measures for preventing the spread of danger
ous infectious diseases—viz., by securing the speedy removal
of the sick.
* In the course of a discussion in the Vestry, on the Gas Question, a
member advocated the use of "governors" to ensure economy of consumption,
by equalization of pressure, thus preventing "blowing." He stated that he had
effected a saving of 56,000 feet of gas, in value nearly £8, in a single year, by
using a governor, the total cost of which was £5 10s. A profitable business
might be done by letting-out "governors;" payment for hire to be in the
form of a liberal percentage on the money value of the gas saved by their use.