1196 REPORT—1885. 
equitable that conditions should be imposed for the proper performance of the busi- 
ness in respect of which the privileges are obtained. If the public ask too much no 
one will take the other side of the bargain, and the Legislature extinguishes what 
it meant to regulate. 
The section of the Act which has done nearly all the harm is section 27, which 
relates to compulsory purchases by the local authority of undertakings within the 
Act. 
Shortly the section amounts to this. The local authority can, after 21 years, 
or at their option, after the expiration of any subsequent period of seven years, 
purchase compulsorily the undertaking within their jurisdiction, at the fair market 
value of the lands, buildings, works, materials, and plant merely as such without 
any addition, in respect of compulsory purchase or goodwill, or any profits made 
in the past, or to be made in the future. 
If therefore the enterprise is unsuccessful it will be left on the investor’s hands. 
If successful, it will be compulsorily bought by the Local Authority for the 
mere value of the plant then in actual use, just when it has become a valuable 
property and he is beginning to reap the full advantage of his investment, which 
may be at the end of 21 years or of-any subsequent seven year period. 
By not giving the promoters any real interest in the undertaking, it would 
prevent any large expenditure on works, with a view to a permanent and lasting 
installation ; their only object would be to make the maximum profit from the 
business while it lasted without any regard to the future. 
The position stands somewhat thus :— 
Parliament does not want to give anyone but the local authority a monopoly 
for more than 21 years. 
It will not pay investors unless they get a monopoly for a much longer period. 
The local authorities are not fit persons to undertake these speculative 
oe even if they were justified in using the ratepayers’ money for doubtful 
results. 
The consequence is that, in its anxiety to prevent a monopoly, the Legislature 
has entirely deprived the general public of the comfort and security and other 
advantages which the electric light offers over all other forms of iilumination. 
2. On an Electric Safety Lamp for Miners. By J. Witson Swan, M.A. 
No mere portable electric lamp being dependent upon extraneous wire connec- 
tion, of which some exist under the name of ‘ Miners’ lamps,’ can be truly called a 
.safety-lamp. 
A hand-lamp, detached and portable, more or less like the ordinary safety-lamp, 
is an absolute necessity in order to comply with the conditions implied in the term 
‘Electric Safety-lamp,’ 
The subject of the present paper fulfils those conditions. It consists of two 
parts; the lamp proper, and the battery to feed it. The combined apparatus weighs 
only 6 Ibs. ; and the cylindrical case containing the cells measures 8 by 4 inches. 
The battery consists of seven cells, and is thus constructed :—The core is a lead 
wire surrounded by peroxide of lead. This is covered by a wrapping of cloth, out- 
side which, and filling the space between the oxide cylinder and the interior lead 
lining of the containing tube, is a packing of lead filament. The lead filament is in 
contact with the lead lining, and that with a strip of lead which forms one of the 
outward conductors ; the lead wire forming the core of the oxide cylinder being the 
other conductor, The electrolyte is dilute sulphuric acid; adhesion to the lead 
filament prevents the liquid from spilling, if the battery is inclined. 
The terminals are attached to two elastic strips of brass, and these hold the 
lamp between them with a slight end pressure, in a simple manner, so as to be 
easily removable. 
_ The lamp, of a half-candle power, probably requires less current than any lamp 
hitherto made, viz. ‘14 of an ampére; the electro-motiye force being 12 to 18 volts. 
‘The cells can store sufficient energy to sustain the lamp during ten to twelve hours. 
a 
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