Different Kinds of Coal for the purpose of Illumination. 45 



compared with the English caldng-coal gas, is 1 to 1-3 ; 

 takino- the value of the gases into account, the price paid, for 

 equal amounts of light, is as 25 to 100 ; accordingly, to light 

 to the same extent with these gases, the expense for the 

 Eno-lish gas is four times as great as that for the other. 

 At 6s. it would be 30 to 100, and at 6s. 6d. it would be 33 to 

 100 ; and hence the price paid for equal amounts of light 

 varies from one-third to one-fourth of that paid for the En- 

 glish caking-coal gas. 



I have given the comparative value of the English parrot- 

 coal gas, and of the Scottish as 1 and 2*7, the average price 

 for the former being 5s., that for the latter 5s., 6s., and 6s. 6d. 

 For the first, the pi-ice paid being the same, the expense for 

 equal lights will be inversely as the value of the gases ; 2*7 to 

 1 ; at 6s. 6d., the highest charge, the comparative expense 

 is about 2 to 1. Accordingly, the expense paid for the same 

 extent of lighting by these gases, varies from about 2 to 2f 

 for the English, to the Scottish as 1; that is, the expense for 

 a given amount of light, for a certain time, by Scottish gas 

 being 1, that for the same light, during the same time, with 

 the English parrot-coal gas, is from 2 to 2j, and for the 

 English caking-coal gas, from 3 to 4, according to the price 

 paid for the Scottish gas. 



In making these remarks I'egarding the value of the 

 gases in different places, and the consequent prices paid 

 for equal amounts of light, I trust it will not be supposed, 

 that I mean to insinuate that the price paid by consumers of 

 gas in England for their light is too great, and that conse- 

 quently, it ought to be reduced, so as to bring it to a par, 

 or nearly so, with that paid in Scotland. So far from that 

 being the case, I believe, that, at present, some English gas 

 companies are charging for their gas a price which does not 

 remunerate them ; and that, instead of it being lowered, 

 it ought to be raised. It must be borne in mind, that the 

 price of gas, like that of other manufactured goods, must be 

 regulated, in a great measure, by that paid for the raw ma- 

 terial ; and it so happens that, in England, they are not so 

 fortunate as we are in Scotland, where there is a coal, which, 

 though much more expensive than the English coal, yet is 

 superior to it for the manufacture of gas ; in so far tbnt it 



