SELLING PRICES AND TERMS OF BUSINESS. IO5 



Taken over long terms of years, I have found that the 

 following rates per quarter are fair to both parties : 3-light 

 size, 9d.; 5-light, is.; ro-light, is. 3d.; 2o-light, is. 8d. 

 Meters smaller than the 3-light are not to be encouraged ; 

 and if there is a good cooking connection, the line 

 may be drawn at the 5-light. A customer not likely to 

 use up to 3-lights is not worth having, and the only 

 use for small meters is for single lights, tither public or 

 private. 



There has been too much slavish adherence to estab- 

 lished usage in the matter of quarterly collections. A good 

 share of the business now put to the credit of the slot 

 meter could have been secured on monthly or weekly 

 collections, and the quarterly system is a too long credit 

 period for weekly wage earners, or for weekly or monthly 

 tenants. A short-period collection secures some of the 

 advantages of the slot system, and avoids the extra cost of 

 the slot meter. 



I have no sympathy with the doctrine that the slot meter 

 is a means of carrying the advantages of gas to the sub- 

 merged tenth. It is desirable to confine business to 

 customers of satisfactory character, and if this rule is not 

 observed, a large amount of expense and loss, from careless 

 usage and robbing of cash tills, is the necessary consequence. 

 The patronage of shady or of criminal characters is not worth 

 having at any price. Nor do I see much advantage in pro- 

 viding burglar-proof cash tills. If a man determines to rob 

 a meter, it is just as well that he should do so at a damage 

 of is. or so to the appliance, as if he finds it necessary to 

 take it into the back yard and operate on it with a crow- 

 bar, he will do more damage and cause more loss on one 

 meter than he could inflict on half a dozen less substantial 

 articles. Of course, the lock should be reliable, strong, and 



