TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 241" 



purification of gas ; and, farther, the Act 5 George 4, c. 133, wliicli passed in 1824, 

 under which the Commissioners of Police for Manchester were authorized to esta- 

 blish gasworks for lighting the town, was, he believed, the first Act ever granted by- 

 Parliament that empowered a municipal body to apply public funds to the carrying on 

 of a manufacturing business for the benefit of the public. Until that Act was obtained, 

 it was an established principle in the legislation of this countiy not to permit public 

 bodies to become traders. It appeared, then, that in connexion with gas Manchester 

 enjoyed the distinction of being the locality where its practical use on a large scale 

 was first shown, of ranking among its citizens the eminent chemist by whose re- 

 searches its purification was effected, and of removing the Parliamentary restric- 

 tions that prevented municipal bodies from deriving profits for public use from its 

 manufacture. The Commissioners of Police, who managed the affairs of the town 

 under an old Police Act, the 32nd George III., which passed in 1792, began the 

 public use of gas by fixing a single lamp over the door of the then police office in 

 Police-street, at the bottom of King-street. He well remembered the crowds that 

 night after night gathered in front to gaze at it. As the use of gas spread, its supe- 

 riority to all other light made the public anxious to obtain it for private consump- 

 tion ; and several public meetings were held for the pui-pose of urging the Commis- 

 sioners of Police to extend the works so as to supply the general demand. The 

 Commissioners made an appeal to the leypayers at large ; and at a meeting held on 

 the 30th of April, 1817, it was resolved: — "That it will be expedient to adopt the 

 proposed mode of lighting the central parts of the town with gas, and, for the pur- 



¥ose of effecting this object, to raise the police rate from 15c?. to 18^. in the pound." 

 he gasworks were enlarged, a "Gas Committee" was established; but as the 

 right of the commissioners to sell gas to private consumers was uncertain, it was 

 thought desirable to obtain a special Act of Parliament to legalize what had been 

 done and to give power to continue the works, prescribing the application of the 

 funds derived from them. While the commissioners were preparing their measure, 

 a notice appeared on the 20th September, 1823, from persons entirely imknown in 

 Manchester, and without any previous intimation of their intention, to apply to 

 Parliament for a bill to authorize the establishment of a " Manchester Imperial 

 Joint-stock Oil Gas Company, to light with oil or other gas the town and parish of 

 Manchester." On this notice appearing, measures were taken to oppose the pro- 

 ject, and at the same time to promote the previously intended purpose of obtaining 

 a Gas Act for the town. In furtherance of these objects meetings were held in 

 Manchester, Salford, Ardwick, and other townships of the parish. Though the 

 opposition to th e Oil Gas Bill was thus formidable, the promoters continued their 

 efforts, and might have succeeded ; but in getting up petitions in favour of the bill 

 they had resorted to the grossest fraud in attaching forged and fictitious signatures, 

 and, on these frauds being proved to the committee by the clearest evidence, the com- 

 mittee to which both bills had been referred at once indignantly rejected the Oil 

 Gas Bill and adjourned without making any report, alleging that they dispensed 

 with this customary formality from a motive of mercy to the parties, inasmuch 

 as they could not make a report without bringing the authors of the fraud and 

 contempt to justice. So strong and general was the indignation excited in the 

 House, that on an attempt being made a few days after to revive the committee, 

 the motion was negatived, not in the usual way by a quiet orderly vote, but, as 

 it is stated in the newspaper reports of the time, "by a thunder of Noes." The 

 resentment thus provoked by one party had, perhaps, a reactionary influence in 

 favour of the other; for the defeat of the Oil Gas Bill was speedily followed by 

 the passing of the Manchester Act, thereby practically recognizing the principle 

 that such establishments might be created by public funds and conduc ted by 

 public bodies for the public benefit, and, further, that the object to which gas- 

 works especially are subservient are more likely to be secured by a general 

 establishment conducted under effective public control by a public body than 

 by any private association founded solely for private gain — in short, that such esta- 

 blishments are not only legitimate in principle, but are even the best (because the 

 most certain and convenient) means of effecting those most import ant public im- 

 provements which progress and circumstances make necessary in towns, which 

 might not be othei-wise eifected. The Act unfortunately left the constitution of the 

 body which, under the Act of 1792, governed the town, and from which the gaa 

 1861. 16 



