100 CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GASWORKb. 



fair selling price. Moreover, the gas business is one that, 

 to use the slang of the day, " has come to stay," and there- 

 fore the main object is to establish a permanent business on 

 mutually fair and satisfactory lines, and the schedule of 

 prices should be framed, not on a blind imitation of the 

 practices elsewhere, but on an intelligent appreciation of 

 the needs and requirements peculiar to the district. There 

 is no greater mistake than the assumption that a plan which 

 has answered well in one place is to be recommended as a 

 general rule for adoption in all places of similar size. It is 

 well to know what neighbouring towns are doing. Such 

 information is useful in a way, but it is in no sense a 

 substitute for a knowledge of the needs of the district, and 

 should always be subservient thereto. Having these points 

 in view, I purposely refrain from setting a special value on 

 any one rule as compared with another. Everything 

 depends upon local conditions and circumstances, and I 

 am at present interested in concerns where each of the 

 plans to be mentioned has proved to be a success. 



As to residuals, coke will usually fetch a price not far 

 short of the current local price of coal. A market can 

 be readily found for the small make of tar, but the profitable 

 disposal of the liquor is usually a difficult matter. Very 

 often the disposal of the liquid products has simply been 

 allowed to go by default, no effort having been made to 

 find a market for them, and a little energy and push will 

 show that things are not so bad as they may appear. For 

 instance, I have known the ammoniacal liquor to be often 

 run to waste when there is a larger undertaking within 

 carting distance where sulphate ii manufactured. When 

 two or three small works are situated only a mile or two 

 apart, the advisability of a combination arrangement for the 

 manufacture of sulphate is worthy of consideration. The 



