June 13, 1889 J 



NA TURE 



155 



(2) The Metropolitan Electric Supply Company : 

 St. Giles-in-the- Fields ; St. George, Bloomsbury ; St. 

 Andrew, Hoi born, above Bars ; St. George the Martyr ; 

 St. Sepulchre, SalTron Hill ; Hatton Garden ; Ely Rents 

 and Ely Place : the Liberty of Glasshouse Yard ; St. 

 Anne, Soho ; St. Paul, Covent Garden ; St. John the 

 Baptist ; Savoy, or precinct of Savoy ; St. ATary-le-Srand ; 

 St. Clement Danes and the Liberty of the Rolls ; together 

 with the exlra-parochial places known as the Charter 

 House, Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Staple Inn, and Furnival's 

 Inn ; St. Marylebone ; St. Mary, Lambeth ; St. Leonard, 

 Streatham, and Clapham ; that portion of St. Martin-in- 

 the-Fields which lies to the east of Northumberland 

 Avenue, Charing Cross, and St. Martin's Lane. 



(3) The Chelsea Electricity Supply Company : the 

 small portion of the parish of St. Mary Abbotts at the east 

 end of the parish contiguous to Chelsea, which has already 

 been agreed to by the Kensington Vestry ; as well as the 

 following, which has up to this time been refused by the 

 Vestry of St. George, Hanover Square, viz. so much of 

 the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, as is between 

 the line formed by the eastern boundary of Chelsea parish 

 on the west, by Knightsbridge, St. George's Place, and 

 Hyde Park Corner, on the north, and by Grosvenor 

 Place, Upper Grosvenor Gardens, Lower Grosvenor 

 Gardens, Buckingham Palace Road, Commercial Road, 

 and Bridge Road, on the east and south-east. 



(4) The House to House Electric Light Supply Com- 

 pany : the south-western portion of the parish of St. 

 Mary Abbotts, Kensington, which has been offered to this 

 company by the Vestry, and which it is willing to accept. 



(5) The Kensington and Knightsbridge Electric Light- 

 ing Company : the portion of the parish of St. Mary 

 Abbotts, Kensington, which this company is at present 

 lighting under licence from the Vestry ; so much of the 

 parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, as lies to the west 

 of the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, which is at 

 present worked under licence from the Vestry of St. 

 Margaret and St. John, if the consent of this Vestry, 

 which is at present refused to the issue of a forty-two 

 years' provisional order, can be obtained. 



(6) The Notting Hill Electric Lighting Company: the 

 portion of the parish of St. Mary Abbotts, Ken- 

 sington, which has been allotted to the company by 

 the Vestry. 



(7) The Westminster Electric Supply Corporation : 

 the parish of St. George, Hanover Square ; and the 

 portions of St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster, 

 lying to the south of Victoria street. 



(8) As regards the Electrical Power Storage Company : 

 that as the articles of association of this company do 

 not give it any power to manufacture and supply electricity 

 for house-to-house lighting no provisional orders be 

 given. 



Lastly, that the licenses applied for by the Chelsea and 

 House-to- House Companies for areas in the portions of 

 the parish of Kensington already allotted to these com- 

 panies by the Vestry be granted. 



As regards the City itself, the Commissioners of Sewers, 

 acting for the Corporation, are asking for tenders ; but 

 Major Marindin says that he sees "no reason why the 

 principle that all such lighting should be done under 

 statutory powers and obligations should be departed 

 from in their case ; " and he recommends that the Board 

 of Trade should "urge the Commissioners of Sewers to 

 consider whether the orders as remodelled do not suffi- 

 ciently provide for all their requirements, and to consent 

 to a division of the area of the City between the two 

 competing companies, viz. the London and Metropolitan 

 Companies, the latter company being allotted the portion 

 nearest the Strand District, and the former the Central 

 and Eastern portions of the City, so that access may be 

 given to the parish of Clerkenweli, the Vestry of which 

 wishes for an order to be granted to this company." 



Major Marindin's Report was forwarded on May 18, by 

 the Board of Trade, to the London County Council, for an 

 expression of their opinion on the subject ; and the Clerk 

 to the London County Council has within the last few 

 days sent a reply to the Assistant Secretary of the Rail- 

 way Department of the Board of Trade. In this reply, 

 while expressing the general approval of the Council to 

 the recommendations contained in Major Marindin's Re- 

 port, he communicates the following important sugges- 

 tions, among several others, which the London County 

 Council desires to make : — 



'" That in the case of subways being in future 

 made in streets where wires are already laid, the com- 

 panies should be under an obligation to remove the wires 

 into such subways, and to pay a rent for the use of them, a 

 reasonable time (say three years) free of rent being allowed 

 as a set-off to the cost of such removal." 



Such a regulation it appears to us would be very 

 onerous in the case of companies like the Kensington 

 and Knightsbridge Company, who have gone to a con- 

 siderable expense in making small special conduits for 

 their own wires. 



" That in view of future possible reduction in the cost of 

 production which may be made as the result of experience 

 and invention there should be a provision that the 

 maximum price of ^d. per Board of Trade unit, proposed 

 to be adopted, shall be subject to revision at the end of 

 seven years ; and that in order to insure healthy competi- 

 tion between the companies during that period no 

 amalgamation or working agreement between companies 

 shall be permitted without the consent of the Council. 

 That clauses should be inserted providing for the applica- 

 tion at the end of seven years of a sliding scale of price 

 and dividend, on the basis of a dividend of 8 per cent." 

 (not 10 per cent, as recommended by Major Marindin to 

 the Board of Trade), "leaving the initial price and 

 arrangement of the scale to be determined at the 

 expiration of the term of seven years. 



"That the minimum charge for supply should be fixed 

 as low as possible, and that should such minimum be 

 fixed at ^i per quarter or over it should be reckoned by 

 the year and not by the quarter, because of the irregular 

 requirements of the consumer at different seasons of the 

 year." 



We presume this is to prevent a company charging a 

 householder by meter in the winter quarters, and levying 

 the minimum rate in the summer quarter. 



" The Council considers that it would be to the ad- 

 vantage alike of the public and the companies tTiat there 

 should be one uniform system of regulation and control 

 throughout the entire area of London. The Council is of 

 opinion that, as the representative governing body of the 

 whole of London, it should be appointed the controlling 

 authority. The Council would further suggest that, if it 

 be made the controlling authority, it should be empowered 

 to discharge the following duties, viz. : — 



" Inspection of lines and works. 



" Testing current. 



" Testing and certifying meters." 



We do not know whether the London County Council 

 is aware that a Committee of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers, and a Committee of the Electrical Section of 

 the London Chamber of Commerce, have for some time 

 past been engaged in advising Major Cardew regarding 

 the details of an electrical standardizing laboratory to be 

 fitted up for the use of the Board of Trade ; and we think 

 that, while municipal regulations may very properly be 

 left to the County Council, the standardizing and certi- 

 fying of meters would more appropriately form part of 

 the work of that body which is already in charge of the 

 national standards of weights and measures, viz. the 

 Board of Trade. 



The letter of the Clerk of the Council goes on to say^ — 



" The Council, in view of the fact that some companies 



