Il6 CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GASWORKS. 



The last twenty years have seen a marked increase as 

 regards public opinion and requirement in the matter of 

 public lighting, and now even the smallest towns are insisting 

 on a complete and efficient system. I can remember when 

 the lighting of a small country town was not worth the 

 name. A few lamps at the principal corners and in the 

 chief streets were considered sufficient, and the by-streets or 

 courts were not lighted at all. The time schedule was 

 ridiculously short, and the whole scheme was shaped with 

 regard to economy. Sometimes this was unavoidable, 

 because the lighting was a matter of private, voluntary 

 subscription, and the scheme had to be shaped to suit the 

 amount in hand. The shortest scheme I ever met with 

 was for 360 hours a year; 120 nights and 3 hours per 

 night, eight evenings off being allowed for each full moon, 

 at the period when, if the sky is clear and cloudless, moon- 

 light nights may be expected. The moonlight clause is 

 never satisfactory. Even when the moon is up, the narrow 

 streets and courts may be in complete shadow ; but the 

 chief objection is that the moon is liable to be obscured by 

 clouds at any moment without notice, and to remain hidden 

 for an indefinite time. Sometimes the lamplighter is 

 allowed some discretion, and is supposed to exercise a give- 

 and-take plan, lighting up for an extra night in dull 

 weather and taking his own when it is fine. But the 

 uncertainty of the weather renders his position under these 

 circumstances a most unthankful one. The moonlight 

 clause is a difficulty in the way of mechanical lighting. 

 One way of meeting it is to add an additional tap below the 

 mechanism, to be shut off and turned on by hand. This is 

 used when the lamps are off for the moon, the controllers 

 being left in action, and is a better plan than interfering 

 with the controllers by stopping them. In a small district, 



