ON FUEL ECOKOMY. 251 



had been impressed with the physiological side of the question and with the 

 danger of cyanogen and of too high a proportion of carbonic oxide in gas. 



The 'Gas Regulation Bill,' as subsequently presented to the House of 

 Commonfl on May 19 last by Sir Robert Home (the new President of the Board 

 of Trade), contained far-reaching new proposals concerning the public sale and 

 distribution of gas, among which the following are of especial importance to 

 consumers : — 



(a) That the Board of Trade may, ou the application of any gas undertakers, 

 by order, provide for the repeal of any enactments or other provisions requiring 

 the underUkers to supply gas of any particular illuminating or calorific value, 

 and for substituting power to charge for thermal units supplied in the form of 



(b) That where such substitution has been decided, upon, the new basis for 

 the sale of gas shall be 100,000 British Thermal Units (to be referred to in the 

 Bill as a ' therm '). The consumer will then be charged according to the number 

 of ' therms ' supplied to him in the gas, and the standard price per therm fixed by 

 the order shall be a price corresponding as nearly ae may be to the price fixed 

 by former provisions for each 1,000 cubic feet, but with such additions (if any) 

 as appear to the Board to be reasonably required in order to meet unavoidable 

 increases since June 30, 1914, in the costs and charges of and incidental 

 to the production and supply of gas by the undertakers ; and the order may make 

 such modifications of any provisions whereby the rate of dividend payable by 

 the gas undertakers is dependent on the price of gas supplied as appear to the 

 Board to be neceesary. 



(c) That an order under the Act shall prescribe the time when, and the 

 manner in which, the undertakers are to give notice of the calorific value of the 

 gas they intend to supply [i.e., 'declared calorific value'), and shall require the 

 undertakers, before making any alteration in the declared calorific value, to 

 take at their own expense such steps as may be necessary to alter, adjust, or 

 replace the burners in consumers' appliances in such a manner as to secure that 

 the gas can be burned with safety and efiiciency. 



(d) That the gas supplied under the Act (i) shall not contain any trace of 

 sulphuretted hydrogen, (ii) shall not be at a pressure of less than two inches 

 water-gauge in any main or service pipe of two inches diameter or upwards, and 

 (iii) shall not contain more than a certain permissible proportion of incombustible 

 constituents (namely, 20 per cent, during a period of two years after the passing 

 of the Act, 18 per cent, during the succeeding two years, and 15 per cent, 

 thereafter). 



(e) That as soon as may be after the passing of the Act the Board shall cause 

 an inquiry to be held into the question whether it is necessary or desirable to 

 prescribe any limitations of the proportion of carbon monoxide which may be 

 supplied in gas used for domestic purposes, and may, if on such inquiry it 

 appears desirable, make a special order under the Act prescribing the permissible 

 proportion. 



(/) That Gas Referees and Examiners shall be appointed for the purpose_ of 

 (i) prescribing the apparatus and method for testing the gas, and (ii) carrying 

 out of such prescribed tests. 



During the passage of the Bill through its Committee stage in the House of 

 Commons, the important sub-section limiting the amount of incombustible con- 

 stituents permissible in gas {vide {d) (iii) above) was deleted, on the under- 

 standing that, subsequent to the passing- of the Act, the matter shall be made 

 the subject of an official inquiry by the Board of Trade. The effect of this 

 amendment is, therefore, to put the question of ' inerts ' into the same category 

 as that of carbon monoxide, and the whole matter now stands as follows :— 



The Board of Trade shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, 

 cause inquiries to be held into the question whether it is necessary 

 or desirable to prescribe any limitations of the proportion of carbon 

 monoxide which may be supplied in gas used for domestic pui-poses, 

 and into the question whether it is necessary or desirable to prescribe 

 any limitations of the proportion of incombustible constituents which 

 may be supplied in gas so used, and may, if on any such inquiry it 

 appears desirable, make one or more special orders under this Act 

 prescribing the permis.sible proportion in either case, and any such 



