123
of lighting with oil and candles might be last at $875 per month
$4900 per
annum
(i.e. or say
The number of jets in use and out of use is 120. Cost of gas $43.66 per
fortnight - Average amount of gas used by each jet 4 feet per
hour. Number of jets intended for
constant use 63.
occasional use 57.
(signed) W. Wilson,
11 September, 1860.
Surveyor General.
(True Copy)
Colonial Secretary
It may be true that owing to the diminished quantity of gas consumed
during the summer months, the average during the year might not exceed 1600, but when the Surveyor General says it would amount to that, if no oil or candles were used, he speaks of what is impossible, as oil and candles must be used, and there are more burners than
are now used at the present day in the Reception Rooms when every gas burner is lit, and this expense of oil
increases in the Summer months. Supposing that by taking the precaution of importing candles wholesale from England that the cost and charge may be reduced to $1.50 per diem, it is
a cost which must always be borne, and would therefore add at least $365 per annum.