108 CONSTRUCTION AM) MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GASWORKS. 



loading or addition to the ordinary price must, therefore, be 



. If the average is 12,000 cubic feet 

 average consumption 



per annum, the loading should be rod. The actual figures, 

 as shown by the result of a year's working, may be substituted 

 for the foregoing; and in any case, it is evident that if the 

 slot department is to be of any benefit to the concern the 

 average consumption should not be less than 10,000. But 

 a profitable short-period collection might be done on a 

 lower average. 



Sometimes the company may be in a position to take 

 2d. or 3d. per thousand cubic feet off the loading, because 

 the cost of the additional make will be less than the average. 

 This aspect of the case is worth considering when the 

 ordinary price is so high that the loading brings the gas up 

 to the position of a costly luxury, rather than an every- 

 day necessity. Take the case of a gas company doing 

 3,000,000 cubic feet per annum, at a net cost of 35. 6d. per 

 thousand cubic feet delivered at the consumers' meters. 

 If the consumption goes up to 4,000,000 cubic feet, the 

 average cost will be less than 35. 6d. Possibly the addition 

 would not necessitate any appreciable outlay on the works 

 or mains, and would mean little more than extra tonnage 

 of coal, and wages. 



The observations respecting hire of meters may also be 

 extended to include any appliance for using gas. The real 

 reason why the gas companies took up the supply of meters 

 on hire in the first place was because the possible con 

 sumers would not buy them, and preferred to do without 

 the gas rather than incur the expense. The same thing 

 has been found to apply to gas cooking stoves. Not one 

 consumer in ten will pay down the full cash value of a gas 

 cooker, but two out of every three will hire one. And the 



