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by members of the Committee, and much valuable information and
knowledge gained which will be of the utmost service to the Committee
should the Vestry carry its order into effect.
The following members of the Special Committee were appointed
members of the Sub-Committee of View:—
Mr. Lambert (Chairman), Messrs. Bailey, Barrett, Cufflin, Fearnhead,
Higginbottom, Johnson, Mote, Rayson, Street, Vine, and Williams
(D. W.)
Particulars of the electric lighting stations visited and of the
information gained have been extracted from the report of the SubCommittee
appointed to view, and are here inserted for the information
of the Vestry:—
House-to-Howse Company, West Bvompton Station.
Your Sub-Committee visited this Station on the 2nd November. This was
the first Station completed in the Metropolis for the accomplishment
of house-to-house lighting, with underground mains, throughout an
extended area. The Station was erected by the House-to-House
Electric Light Supply Company, Limited, in 1888, and opened in
January, 1889. The district supplied by the Company may be
described as for the most part residential, being composed almost
entirely of private residences and flats, with a few shops and hotels,
the system adopted being that known as the high tension alternating
current transformer system.
It is claimed that the maintaining of a uniform voltage can always be relied
upon on the high tension system, but that it has been found in
practice that there is some difficulty in keeping the current at an
equal pressure throughout the whole lengths of the mains on the low
tension method. For instance, if a large number of lamps were put
on at one time the voltage would be instantly reduced, owing to
the increased loss of energy in the mains, but on the high tension
principle this drawback is practically overcome. There are about
26 miles of mains, laid in 11 miles of cast-iron pipes, the largest
of which, are 6 inches in diameter, and the smallest 3 inches. The
cost of laying the cast-iron pipes, including taking up and re-laying