26 CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GASWORKS. 



which are put before the board as the work of their officer. 

 He may be an ironmonger, a blacksmith, a coal dealer, or 

 an agricultural implement agent, but he acquires his 

 experience in the management of gasworks at the expense 

 of the concern and the bill is usually heavy. If he under- 

 takes to put up the gasworks himself, with the aid of such 

 bargains in the way of second-hand apparatus as he can 

 pick up by answering advertisements, matters are made 

 worse. In any case, his deficiencies are not only apparent 

 in the capital, but also in the revenue. His expenditure as 

 regards first outlay is not only extravagant but the working 

 results will not be of the best. There is no concern so 

 small that it cannot afford to pay for sound professional 

 advice, and in some respects more skill is required to run a 

 2,000,000 cubic feet works on lines that are likely to be 

 satisfactory to all concerned than a 20,000,000 works. In 

 addition to consultation at the start, the expert gas engineer 

 may with advantage be asked to spend a day once a year 

 in looking into the working results, as it is probable that 

 the suggestions made in his report will repay his fee several 

 times over. 



So far, we have considered the case of a company starting 

 de novo ; but it may happen that the object is to acquire a 

 going concern. It is no uncommon thing for a small gas 

 undertaking to get into the market. Very frequently, such 

 is started by one person, and several reasons may arise to 

 lead to its sale or disposal. In such case, an artificial value 

 may be put upon it that is, a capital value in excess of 

 actual structural cost or expenditure the margin being 

 considered to represent " goodwill," or a trading profit to 

 the vendor. The small undertaking, however, cannot afford 

 to incur substantial intangible liabilities in the form of what 

 is popularly known as " watered " capital. An artificially 



