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52
increased as the length of unprofitable mains extended. In such a case,
the price of gas would probably rise, and the increased cost would mainly
fall upon the consumer in the poorer localities. It is, indeed, possible for
the poorer locality to be deprived both of gas and electricity, for under the
provisions of the Electric Lighting Act, the Board of Trade may relieve a
Gas Company of their obligation to supply gas in an area sufficiently
supplied with the electric light, if such area has become unremunerative,
while the price of electricity and the conditions attached to its supply may
be a serious impediment to small householders. This contingency may be
remote, nevertheless your Committee think the point of such importance
as to deserve the consideration of the Vestry and to engage the attention of
the Board of Trade.
The Order differs in one or two material particulars from the Edison
Order of 1883 (since revoked), which may for all practical purposes be
regarded as the Model Order of the Board of Trade. For instance, only one
area of supply is now spoken of, instead of two as formerly, one a compulsory
and one an optional area. No streets are now specified in which
mains are to be laid as a matter of course, but a main is to be laid in any
street in any part of the area, either on the requisition of private consumers
or of the local authority (Clause 19). The Committee are inclined to think
that the adoption of only one area of supply and the omission of specified
streets is an improvement, inasmuch as it places the whole area and every
street contained in it upon an equal footing, and allows the Undertakers
free scope to develop the undertaking on a purely commercial basis.
The Committee then went on to specify the objections
which they entertained to certain clauses in the Order. Their
principal objections extended to the amount of capital
(£250,000) as being inadequate for the proposed area of
supply, which extended from Broad Street, Bloomsbury, to
Lower Marsh, Lambeth, in one direction, and from the eastern
end of the Green Park to Bridge Street, Blackfriars, in the
other; to the exclusion of the northern part of the Parish
from the area of supply; and to the proposed hanging up of
the Order for two years. Many objections on minor points
were also taken.