Trade and Commerce. 35 



cheapening the gas as well as of producing it in large 

 quantities ; no less than a million cubic feet per hour 

 being delivered during the busiest time of the evening. 

 To cope with this output, the six gas-holders are, of course, 

 of large size, the largest of them containing over 2\ million 

 cubic feet. The cost to the consumer is on a sliding scale, 

 ranging up to 2/3 per 1,000 cubic feet. 



The Corporation are now organizing a Technical 

 Institute, which deserves a short description. 



The city has a grant of ^10,000 a year, in aid of techni- 

 cal instruction, from the new Department of Agriculture and 

 Technical Instruction. This sum is administered by the 

 Library and Technical Instruction Committee of the Cor 

 poration. In 1900 it was decided to build a Technical 

 Institute, and a site was secured having an area of some 

 5,450 square yards. Plans were prepared, and a Principal 

 appointed. After careful inquiry, it was considered that 

 the proposals were inadequate for the prospective needs of 

 the city, and the plans were accordingly enlarged. Tenders 

 have now been accepted for the erection ot the building, 

 the contract price being ^^8 1,000. The building will be 

 completed about the year 1905. In order to avoid duplica- 

 tion of classes, the committee held a number of conferences- 

 during 1901 with the various schools then providing evening 

 instruction in Science, Art, and Technology, resulting in 

 these bodies handing over their work to the city. This has 

 enabled the Institute to formulate a homogeneous scheme 

 of instruction, to secure an efficient organization, and to 

 provide against waste of funds or of teaching energy. 



The first evening session opened on the 30th September, 

 1901. That the efforts of the committee have met with 

 a gratifying response is shown by the fact that the number 

 of tickets issued up to date (May 1902) for the various 

 courses of instruction is 4,290: in addition, 5,220 tickets 

 have been issued for single lectures The work is spread 

 over a large area, there being, in addition to the four central 

 buildings, six branches in outlying parts of the city. There 

 is a staff of about 100 teachers and assistants. 



It is to be hoped that the Corporation will, before long, 

 get the Tramways under their control, as until then there 



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