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The case, however, fell through, owing to its being ruled that
the Aldermen were the only magistrates in the City, and thus
prosecutor and judge were virtually the same person, which
could not be permitted. This defect of jurisdiction alone
prevented the Act of 1860 being enforced. Before concluding
this part of the subject, I would add that the Metropolitan
Gas Referees in their Sulphur Report, 1872, state that they
are now sure that lime, properly used, is a perfect means of
taking out the sulphur from gas, and that its removal can be
effected with as great certainty as that of ammonia or
sulphuretted hydrogen.
3rd.—Does the removal of the sulphur necessarily produce
a nuisance? That if the purifiers be simply opened and
emptied, a nuisance is produced, no one can doubt, but that
it is impossible to prevent it is not by any means proved.
Dr. Letheby (the Consulting Chemist of the Phoenix Company)
has repeatedly said that it is not, and most chemists will agree
with him; trouble and expense it may cause, but the result
is worth the cost. Any one observing the difference in the
destructive effects of the gas now supplied to the City and
that which was supplied three years ago, or is still supplied
to many places outside the City, will have no doubt on this
point. The present Metropolitan Gas Referees, though more
lenient to the Gas Companies than their predecessors, permit
25 grains of sulphur in gas made at Urban works, only for a
time, till the requisite alterations are made, so that they,
even, manifestly do not admit the impossibility of the
removal of the sulphur without producing a nuisance if
proper means are taken to prevent it.
I remain, Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
CHAS. HEISCH, F.C.S.,
Superintending Gas Examiner to the Corporation
of the City of London.