THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



REVIEW OF LIGHTING SYSTEMS. 



Electricity, Air-gas or Acetvlcnc ? Factors in a Fair Comparison Questions of First Cost and 

 Upkeep Typical Examples Degrees of Skilled Attention Required for Different Systems. 



WHEN the lighting of a country house which is not within reach of any public service of gas 

 or electricity comes to be considered, an important question arises for immediate 

 decision : Will electricity, acetylene or air-gas best serve the individual purpose : 

 Anyone who intends to instal a private plant is faced by conflicting advice from the 

 makers and advocates of these varying systems. Some attempt at a fair and impartial 

 comparison is likely therefore to be useful. It is impossible to apply any definite rule or set of rules 

 when making the choice, but it is desirable that the following conditions should be fulfilled : 



(1) Low first cost of installation. 



(2) Low working cost. 



(3) Simplicity of machinery. 



(4) Reliability. 



(5) Safety and cleanliness 



(6) Adaptability to the decorative scheme. 



The size of the installation is the chief factor determining which of the three systems best fulfils 

 the foregoing conditions in any particular case, and this, together with the manner of life of the 

 householder and the style of the house, should form the basis on which the final decision is made. No 

 attempt has been made to write down the above conditions in the order of their importance, as this varies 

 with the personal element in each case. For instance, low first cost will not appeal to the wealthy 

 individual who desires to light up a large country house containing a great drawing-room, a ballroom, 

 and numerous guest chambers, to the same extent as it will to the country clergyman with a small stipend, 

 a small rectory, and a large family. The rich man with a very large establishment will almost certainly 

 declare in favour of electricity, which in his case will probably give the lowest working costs, while his 

 less wealthy neighbour will most likely instal air-gas or acetylene. 



The actual first cost is determined by the size of the installation required : but in making a comparison, 

 the annual cost of working must also be taken into consideration, and it is this which makes a fail 

 comparison extremelv difficult, as so many things affect it which are not, properly speaking, commercial 

 considerations at all, but rather affairs of domestic concern. In a very large establishment which is run 

 on business lines by the estate agent, it is desirable that the value of the plant should be written down 

 year by year on some properly determined scale of depreciation, that provision for maintenance should 

 be included, and that a certain proportion of the estate engineer s wages should be added to the cost of 

 fuel in order to ascertain rightly the cost of the light. 



When, however, we come to consider the case of a small country house built by the occupier, who 

 may be a retired man of business wishing to spend the end of a busy life in surroundings of his own 

 choosing, the case appears entirely different. Should such a man be content to use oil lamps or candles, 

 we should not be likely to find the ironmonger from whom he makes his purchases presenting him with 

 statistical data as to the depreciation and maintenance of his candlesticks, interest on his capital expenditure 

 and the annual cost of labour in lamp trimming. The fittings in this case are regarded as ordinary 

 pieces of household furniture, to be replaced or repaired as may be required, in the same way as the chairs 

 and carpets, and the yearly sum expended on oil and candles does not differ in kind from similar sums spent 

 on bread or coal ; they are both part of the ordinary household expenses. The situation is not materially 

 altered by the installation of a small acetylene or air-gas plant ; the cost of running it forms part of the 

 ordinary household expenditure, and the repairs that may be necessary to keep the plant in order are 

 not properly assessable on the capital cost of the plant. A concrete example may serve to make the 

 meaning clear ; take the case of a very small acetylene installation for five lights costing 15 all told. 

 The calcium carbide to run such a plant for one year cost only 3 in at least one well-authenticated 

 instance. The light was, of course, used sparingly. If we follow the statistician s advice and allow 

 10 per cent., or i 5s., for yearly depreciation, 5 per cent., or 125. 6d., for interest on capital expenditure, 

 and a further 10 per cent., or i 55., for labour in connection with the plant, we saddle the lighting bill 

 with a sum of 3 2s. 6d. in addition to the cost of carbide. Now, if the plant is of thoroughly good make, 

 there is no reason to suppose that it will be absolutely valueless at the end of ten years, as the proposed 



