110 CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GASWORKS. 



No apparatus should be placed out on hire that does 

 not bear some distinguishing mark or badge notifying 

 that it is the property of the company, or without a 

 proper signed agreement. The exact form to be used 

 must be carefully drafted to suit local circumstances and 

 conditions, but a few forms are given at the end of this 

 chapter, as specimens that have been found satisfactory in 

 practice. 



Apparatus on hire should never be regarded as having 

 gone out of the family, but should receive the same care 

 and attention that is extended, or should be extended, to the 

 plant at the works. It should be clearly understood that 

 all appliances hired out are supplied on the understanding 

 that they are to be used regularly. For one thing, 

 apparatus standing idle deteriorates more rapidly than that 

 in careful and proper usage. If the books show that a stove 

 is not frequently used, inquiry should be made; and fre- 

 quently it will be found that there is some absurd prejudice 

 that is easily explained away, or some trifling defect that can 

 be set right in a few minutes. Gas fires should be cleaned 

 every autumn, and freed from the six months' accumulation 

 of dust and dirt that they have attained to during the 

 summer. It does not pay any company to have a large in- 

 vestment in idle apparatus, whether the same is stored on 

 the works or out in the district. In my experience, it rarely 

 happens that a customer will allow a gas stove to be taken 

 out. He usually promises to use it more frequently, and 

 very often develops into a first-rate customer. 



The hire and maintenance of appliances involves a stock 

 of parts for renewal, and a workshop and store room, and 

 from this it is not a wide step to a stock of fittings for sale. 

 A small company cannot run a large or extensive stock, but 

 fhey can keep anything that is in regular demand. Every 



