Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/856

 826 LONDON [LIGHTING. The gas com panies. Old LIGHTING. From 1416 the citizens of London were methods under an obligation to hang out candles between certain of light- } lours on dark nights for the illumination of the streets : incr 3 and in 1661 a special Act of Parliament was passed to en force the custom. The corporation in 1684 granted a licence to Edward Heming, the inventor of oil lamps, for the sole supply of the public lights for twenty-one years, but the duty was then once more assigned to the individual citizens. A second agreement with contractors not proving satisfactory, the corporation in 1736 obtained from parlia ment permission to erect lights where they thought proper, and to levy a rate, which in that year yielded 15,000. Gas-lighting was in 1807 introduced in Pall Mall by the erection of a small apparatus to supply the lamps on the one side of the street, the other being still lighted with oil. In 1810 the Gas Light and Coke Company received a charter permitting it to supply gas to any persons within &quot; the cities of London and Westminster, and the borough of Southwark,&quot; and as the result of their enterprise West minster Bridge in 1813 was lighted with gas, and in 1814 the whole of the streets of St Margaret s parish. The City of London Gas Company was formed in 1817, and soon afterwards other seven companies. After several years wasteful competition the companies came to an agreement in 1857 to restrict themselves to separate localities. This led to the Metropolitan Gas Act of 1860, the only effectual provisions of which were those in reference to the quality of the gas. The City of London Gas Act of 1868, limit ing the price of gas within the City to 3s. 9d. per 1000 feet, except in certain cases, was the only other measure of a restrictive character passed before 1876, and previous to this the companies, by amalgamation, and through the favourable terms on which they were allowed to increase their capital and to raise new shares, had enormously increased the value of their dividends. The Act of 1876, from the provisions of which the London Gas Company is exempt, adopted a sliding scale of dividends, one half of the profits, after a 10 per cent, dividend had been paid, going to the shareholders, the other being applied to reduction in the price of the gas, it being also provided that the price should not be more than 3s. 9d., and that when additions were made to the capital the shares should be put up to auction. The experimental introduction of the electric light by the commissioners of sewers of the City, and by the Metropolitan Board (for the Thames Embankment and some of the bridges), has led the gas companies to provide better lights in some of the more important streets. The following table (VII.) will show that the prosperity of the companies 1 has not been affected by the legislation of 1876, and as yet has not materially suffered from the threatened competition of electric lighting : Total Gas Companies, Year ending December 30, 1880. Totals, Year ending December 1874. Increase 4- or Decrease from 1874 to 1880. Amount of capital authorized

12,050,719

10 482 900

+1 567 819 Paid up capital 10 784 961 8 887 286 + 1 897 675 Capital remaining to be paid up Loan capital authorized 1,265,757 3,363,167 1,595,614 2,058 667 -329,857 +1 304 500 Loan capital remaining to be borrowed Amount of capital on which 10 per ) 1,303,805 8,032,720 329,455 7,246,800 +974,350 + 785,920 Total income 3 988 543 3 703 108 + 2S-&quot; 345 Total expenditure 2 794*858 2 767 266 +27 592 Total gas sales...- 3 015 444 2 914 800 +100 644 Contract for public lighting 221 271 268 297 47 06 Coal carbonized Tons 1 998 &quot;&amp;gt;54 1 444 i)06 + 553 258 Gas sold for private lights Ft. 17 012 025 11 648 859 + 5 363 1(16 Gas sold for public lamps 1 124 438 1 074 595 +49 843 Public lamps Ko 6o o46 54 119 + 6 2 &amp;gt;7 1 By amalgamation the companies have now been reduced to four : Gas Light and Coke Company, paid up capital 7,515,000 ; South Metropolitan Gas Company, 1,831,990 ; Commercial Gas Company, 675,845 ; London Gas Company, 762,126. FIRE EXTINCTION. Until 1866 the duty of extinguishing fires Protec- was in the hands of the fire insurance companies, which in 1832 tionfro united in support of one brigade for the whole of London, but only fire, kept a comparatively small establishment, in the central districts of the metropolis. The other districts were protected by small hand-engines kept up by the parochial authorities according to the 14 Geo. III. c. 78. Since the staff of the fire insurance companies was placed under the care of the Metropolitan Board, the number of stations lias been increased from 17 to 53, with 4 floating stations, while 11 movable stations have also been provided ; the number oi engines has been increased from 11 steam and 27 manual to 3 float ing engines, 38 steam land engines, and 115 manual ; and the number of men has been increased from 130 to 536, in addition to 68 coachmen and pilots. The board has also undertaken the duty of protecting life from fire, which previous to 1867 was dis charged by a society supported by voluntary subscriptions, and they at present maintain 137 fire-escapes, which are stationed during the night in the most prominent parts of the metropolis. The total receipts of the brigade in 1880 was 91,545, and the expenses 88,980, of which 56,021 was defrayed by the board, 10,000 was paid by the treasury, and 21,464 was contributed by the insurance companies, at the rate of 35 for every 1,000,000 insured by them. In 1881 the expenses were over 100,000, of which over 60,000 was defrayed by rates. The number of persons endangered by fire during 1881 was 154, of whom 114 were saved and 40 lost their lives. The following table (VIII.) gives a classification of fnx-s since 1874 : Number of Fires. Percentage. Serious. Slight. Total. Serious Slight. 1874 154 1419 1573 10 90 1875 163 1366 1529 11 89 1876 166 1466 1632 11 89 1877 159 1374 1533 10 90 1878 170 1489 1659 10 90 1879 159 1559 1718 9 91 1880 ]fi2 1709 1871 9 .)] 1881 167 1824 1991 8 92 tions. SANITARY ARRANGEMENTS. Until 1531 no provision Early was made for the construction of underground main sewers, sanitary notwithstanding that in 1290 the exhalations from the Fleet overcame the incense burnt at the altars in the neighbour ing churches, and that in 1307 the river, on account of the accumulation of filth, had become inaccessible for ships. The Act of Henry III. in 1531, which provided for the appointment of a commission of sewers, was renewed in Comm 1548 by Edward VI., and extended in its application by sion o: James I. in 1607; and subsequently separate commissions sewers were granted as the population extended to other districts. The most important work of the old commission of sewers was the bridging over of the Fleet in 1637. In 1841 this sewer, which drained an area of over 400 acres, was widened at a cost of about 47,000, and at its mouth an iron culvert was provided which carried its discharge into the middle of the Thames. Other main sewers were constructed, but the bridging of them over was carried out slowly and in a very imperfect manner. In early times the nuisances were carried away by the scavengers and the sewage received into wells, which when full were pumped into the kennels of the streets. Until 1848 the discharge of house sewage into the main drainage was forbidden, and the construction of cesspools enforced, the majority of which were unprovided with overflow drains, but after 1810 there was considerable improvement in connexion with the intro duction of better arrangements for a supply of water. Under the auspices of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, created by the Act of 1848, a more satisfactory system of local drainage was enforced ; but its action in regard to the main sewage discharge was so dilatory that the pressure of public opinion led to the Metropolitan Local Management Act of 1855 providing for the creation of the Metropolitan Board of Works, in which was vested Metro the care of the main sewers, and to which was entrusted P ohtan the construction of works for their discharge at a distance from London regarded as sufficient to prevent the pollu tion of the river. Works were commenced in 1859, and completed in 1865 at a cost of .4,607,000, pro-