ON FUEL ECONOMY. 105 



distribution of town's gas, the Executive, after receiving separate 

 Memoranda on tlie subject from Professor Bone and Mr. E. V. Evans, 

 referred the whole matter for detailed consideration to a Sub-Committee 

 consisting of Sir Eobert Hadfield, Professor Bone, Dr. J. E. Stead, 

 Messrs. A. H. Barker, E. Bury, E. V. Evans, D. H. ELelps, D. V. 

 Hollingworth, A. Hutchinson, E. Mond, W. H. Patchell, and H. James 

 Yates. 



This Sub-Committee having reported that it had arrived, by an 

 eight to one majority, at the conclusions embodied in the following 

 numbered paragraphs, they were formally adopted by the Committee 

 as a whole, and ordered to be incorporated in the Eeport as the find- 

 ings of the Committee on the subject. 



(1) The chief recommendations made by the Fuel Eesearch Board 

 embody substantially the following propositions: — 



(a) That the consumer shall in future be charged according to the 



thermal units in the gas actually received by him, just as 

 a consumer of electricity is charged for the Board of Trade 

 units which have passed through his meter. 



(b) That, subject to a maximum limit of 12 per cent, of inert 



constituents, and of its undertaking to adjust consumers' 

 lighting, heating, and cooking appliances so that the gas can 

 be burnt in them with both safety and efficiency, the gas 

 undertaking shall be at liberty to fix the calorific value of 

 the gas it supplies to its customers, although in the common 

 interests of producers and consumers it is suggested that 

 burners shall be standardised for a limited number of calorific 

 values of gas of which (it is suggested) four grades may be 

 sufficient, namely, 400, 433, 466, and 500 B.Th.Us. per 

 cubic foot. 



(c) That every supply district above a certain magnitude ought to 



be provided with one or more gas examiners and, if neces- 

 sary, a staff of inspectors, whose whole time should be 

 devoted to looking after the interests of gas consumers, and 

 that the smaller supply centres should be grouped into 

 districts for such purposes. 



(d) That, provided customers' appliances are properly adjusted to 



the grade of gas supplied, it may be tentatively accepted 

 that the relative values of different grades of gas are strictly 

 proportional to their calorific values. Thus, for example, 

 ' the relative values to the consumer of gases of 500 and 

 400 B.Th.Us. could be taken as exactly in that ratio.' 



(e) That there shall be more complete removal of sulphur and 



cyanogen compounds from the gas. 

 (/) That, under normal conditions of supply and equipment, there 

 shall be a pressure of not less than two inches of water in 

 the gas at the exit of the consumer's meter. 



(2) With regard to these recommendations, the Committee 

 generally agrees that, provided (a) that simple and effective means or 

 apparatus could be devised, and put in general operation, for determining 



