ISO* 



Describe Ihc two sorts of lamps that 

 are the extreme? — The 101. is uhat we 

 call the larg;e bat-\vingod bnrnors ; the 

 lowest is a single flame, like the light of 

 a candle. 



What description of lamp is it with 

 which you light tlie streets; what you 

 call the parish lamp? — They vary in dif- 

 ferent parishes according to the contract; 

 some of the parishes have tliree guineas 

 a-year lamps; in others 51. a-year ; in 

 others 101. a-year; depending upon the 

 width of the street, aivd llie distance at 

 wliicli they are placed. 



The lamps once went out in West- 

 minster, did not they ? — Yes, they did. 



What was the cause of tlieir going 

 out ? — ^A fresh hand taking the manage- 

 ment. 



Supposing any explosion was to take 

 place in any one of those gasometers, 

 those reservoirs, what would become of 

 it then? — It would do away with that 

 gasometer, that is all. 



How near are they to each other? — 

 There are two within seven or eight 

 feet; the others are about (hirty feet. 



Those within seven feet, if the one 

 was to explode, the otiicr might possibly 

 get damaged ? — No, I do not think it is 

 probable ; if a gasometer was to give 

 way, it would be merely a dislocation of 

 the sheet iron ; the gas would escape, 

 but I do not conceive any quantity cf 

 matter could be discharged so as to in- 

 jure the vessel next to it. The gasome- 

 ter is composed of very thin iron, some- 

 thing similar to strong paper, and it 

 would be merely the bursting open of 

 that paper ; there could be no fragments 

 f y from it to injure the next vessel. 



Do you think that seven feet is a suf- 

 ficient distance to prevent its operating 

 upon the next ? — 1 think it is an ample 

 distance. 



Explosions have taken place ? — I ne- 

 ver knew one in a gasometer. 



Did an explosion take place in Covent 

 Garden, or in the ueighbonrhood of Co- 

 vent Garden ? — There was a sligiit con- 

 tusion took place, a slight explosion 

 took place there. 



How was that ? — The men were join- 

 ing a pipe to convey the gas to the dilTc- 

 rent parts of the theatie, and our valves 

 being opened before the Tegular time, 

 the workmen not being aware of that, 

 the pipe end to which they were going 

 to join another was open, and it made 

 its escape between the plaster of the 

 ceiling and the boarded floor. 

 Yon ha\e been asked as to the effect 



Facts in Evidence on Gas.Lights. f Oct. f, 



of an explosion in the gasometers ; d» 



you think an explosion can lake place 

 in a gasometer? — I do not think it is ca- 

 pable of an explosion. 



Are the contents of the gasometer ca- 

 pable of explosion alone ? — No. 



Would it not require, to produce an 

 explosion, that a mixture of gas and 

 atmospheric air should be put in? — Yes, 

 it might be done for an ex])erinicnt; it 

 could not be possible for the gas alone 

 to explode. 



'Iherefore these questions are hypo- 

 thetical, supposing circumstances are so 

 managed, as that an explosion sliould 

 take place ? — Yes. 



And not from an opinion that a gaso- 

 meter can explode ? — No ; in my opinion 

 it cannot. 



Since that accident you have mention- 

 ed at Covent Garden Theatre, has any 

 application been made to the Company 

 to cncrease the supply then in contem- 

 plation ? — Yes. 



Richard Ledheater was then called in, 

 and examined. 



You are chief clerk to the Gas Light 

 and Coke Company ? — Yes. 



How many private houses are light- 

 ed by the Gas Light Company with 

 Lamps? — Between seventeen and eight- 

 teen hundred. 



How many private lamps are there in 

 those seventeen or eighteen hundred 

 houses? — Upward of seven thousand. 



Have yon any idea, supposing there 

 were no private lighting, at what you 

 would light a whole parish per lamp for 

 the public ? — I do not think the Com- 

 pany would undertake to light street- 

 lights only, without private houses. 



You are of opiniou the Company 

 would not undertake to light street- 

 lamps only ? — I do not think it would 

 be wortli their while ; I know we are at 

 present losing by all the street lamps we 

 light. 



Have you made any calculation as 

 til the loss or profit upon aiiy particular 

 lamps? — I dare say the average loss 

 upon all the street liglits we are now 

 supplying may be from fifteen to twenty 

 per cent. 



If the public were to advance yon 

 twenty or thirty per cent, more thari 

 you now have, you could light the pub- 

 lic lamps? — Yes, I think we could. 



Are you furnished with an account of 

 the expenditure of the last 200,0001.?^ 

 I have an account, not of the exact sums 

 of cuch iteio. 



Tht 



