PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 39 



m. inst. c.a, has been found most suitable, and the same 

 material was used for the protection of the piles for the 

 long jetty at Woolloomooloo Bay and the eastern jetty at 

 Jones Bay. 



The lights connected with the navigation of the port 

 have been rebuilt, those on land being with few exceptions 

 constructed of reinforced concrete, and all except a few 

 lighted with acetylene gas; the floating lights are also fitted 

 with occulting acetylene gas apparatus. 



Gas Works. 

 The importance of gas in our daily life was fully realised 

 recently, when owing to a shortage in the supply of coal 

 its use had to be restricted, thus causing inconvenience to 

 thousands of householders. In this State the public supply 

 of gas dates back to 1842, when the Sydney works were 

 first put into operation; from then until 1891 the demand 

 for light and power had grown to such an extent that the 

 Australian Gas Light Company, who supply Sydney, had 

 found it necessay to build works at Mortlake, which were 

 put into operation in 1886. They were fitted with all the 

 labour saving devices available, that being the first occas- 

 ion in Australia when the retorts were charged and drawn 

 by mechanical power, thus relieving the stokers of a portion 

 of their arduous labours, and so satisfactory were the 

 results, that the head station at Kent Street, was in 1896, 

 equipped with similar machinery at a cost of £40,000. By 

 1895, the 36 inch main from Mortlake into the city had 

 become too small. To increase its capacity the gas was 

 forced along it at high pressure, and to regulate the supply 

 to the various districts, governing stations were erected at 

 the points of offtake; a second main has since been laid. 



Up to 1913, horizontal retorts had been used for the car- 

 bonization of coal, but at that date the vertical retorts 

 were first used in the State, the Newcastle Gas Company 



