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245
addition by the Vestry was agreed to in the following
terms, viz.:—
That the applications for licenses by the London Electric Supply
Corporation, Limited, and the Metropolitan Electric Supply
Company, Limited, now before the Vestry, be objected to on
the ground that the Vestry should retain the control of the
lighting of the parish in its own hands ; and that it be referred
back to the Committee to consider and report as to the
desirability of the Vestry applying to the Board of Trade with
that object in view.
The Committee considered the reference on the question
of the desirability of the Vestry applying for a license or
provisional order for the lighting of the parish by electricity,
and had their attention called to the provisions of section 1
of the Act of last Session (1888) amending the Electric
Lighting Act, 1882, by which section it is expressly provided
"that the grant of authority to any undertakers to supply
"electricity within any area, whether granted by license or
"by means of a provisional order, shall not in any way
" hinder or restrict the granting of a license or provisional
"order to the local authority, or to any other company or
"person within the same area."
Having regard to the provisions of the foregoing section,
and to the circumstances generally, the Committee reported
their opinion that it would not be expedient that the Vestry
should, at the present time, make application for a license
or provisional order for the lighting of the parish by
electricity.
The Vestry, however, passed the following resolution,
viz.:—
That the recommendation now submitted be referred back to the
Parliamentary Committee, with power to enquire fully into the
whole question of electric lighting, and with authority to
enquire of the Lighting Corporations of London and the
Provinces ; the Committee to have power also to inspect the
works of any of the Companies in or near London formed for
the purpose of supplying the light.
The Committee in the course of their sittings up to Ladyday
made active progress in their enquiry of the lighting