COMPANY MEETING

GAS LIGHT AND COKE COMPANY

A REMARKABLE OUTPUT RECORD INCREASED COST OF COAL SIR DAVID MILNE-WATSON'S REVIEW

THE two hundred and thirty-second Ordinary General Meeting of the Gas Light and Coke Company was held on Friday, February loth, at Gas Industry House, Grosvenor Place, London, S.W.

Sir David Milne-Watson, Bt., LL.D., D.L., the Governor, pre- sided.

The Secretary (Mr. Brian Wood) having read the notice con- vening the meeting, The Governor commenced by expressing regret at the loss the company had sustained by the death of Mr. Fooks, adding that his place had been taken by Mr. C. W. L. P. Reed. He also referred with regret to the death of Mr. Galbraith, the late Secretary.

Continuing, he said: Ladies and Gentlemen, we will now take the accounts. On the capital account you will see that we have spent altogether £960,000, £17,000 of which was on land, £96,000 on buildings and machinery, £172,000 on mains and service pipes, £352,000 on meters, and £323,00o on appliances. Against these we have written off £838,000, making a net increase in capital of £122,000. During the year it has not been necessary for the com- pany to issue any further stock.

RESULT OF YEAR'S WORKING

The result of the working of the year is as follows : —The balance nansferred from the revenue account to the net revenue account is £2,066,000, as against £2,050,000 for the previous year. This balance, after allowing for interest and dividends distributed in respect of the June half-year, leaves a sum of £802,000. . This enables the directors to recommend the usual dividend on the 3i per cent. redeemable preference stock, 1970, the 4 per cent. con- solidated preference stock, and the 31- per cent. maximum stock, and a dividend (unchanged) at the rate of £5 12s. per cent. per annum on the ordinary stock. The payment of these dividends, together with the necessary contribution of £20,000 to the redemption fund, will absorb £748,000, leaving £54,000 to be carried forward to the credit of the current year's accounts, as against £102,000 carried forward last year.

INCREASED COST OF COAL

At the end of the year the directors found it necessary, with great regret, to announce a forthcoming increase in the price of gas. During the past year the company has been using coal pur- chased under contracts dated 1935. Since then the price of coal has risen substantially. Our former contracts have run out, and our company has from now on to bear a very heavily increased cost. It is impossible to adopt the policy of allowing the coal industry virtually to impose what price increases it thinks fit, and then to complain when the costs of other things directly dependent upon coal rise too. The public has to pay in terms of the price of gas, of electricity, and of a vast range of industrial products in whose manufacture coal is an important factor.

You can imagine that it may be a temptation to put off the evil day by reducing some essential expenditure, such as our pro- vision for the proper maintenance and renewal of plant. But a company which takes that easy way out jeopardises its own future and paves the way for a slow decline that is certain, though it may not be outwardly visible. I am convinced that the directors' decision is the right one in the interest of continued efficiency in our operations and of the extension and ultimate cheapening of the vital service which we provide for the community.

Before leaving this question of the price of gas, let me put the whole matter in perspective once more by reminding you that our increase means an addition to the gas bill of the average London working-class household of rld. a week and of id. a week to the Old Age Pensioner or anyone in similar circumstances. We have post- poned the increase to the last possible moment, and during the recent cold spells the consumers have been getting gas at the old price, although we are paying more for the coal.

EFFECT OF WEATHER CONDITIONS

The year that has just closed was from our point of view a most extraordinary one. In March, and again in November, tem- peratures were quite abnormally high. I am satisfied from a study of the figures that in these temperature conditions a drop in sales of only a little over one per cent. shows that our business as a whole continues to expand. In support of my view I may point to the remarkable output figures which were achieved during the blizzard just before Christ- mas, although the temperature and the conditions were by no means a record even in comparatively recent years. The figures of gas output broke all records, on five consecutive days we beat our previous record day, and on Wednesday, December 21st, we reached the remarkable peak of 265,000,000 cubic ft., 17,000,00o cubic ft above our previous record, and by far the largest amount of gas ever supplied in a single day by any undertaking in the world.

The number of cookers, hotplates and gas rings on the district increased by over 42,000; fires, radiators, etc., by 23,000; water heaters by over 45,000; wash coppers by 16,00o; and refrigerators by ir,000.

The technical development of gas central heating has proceeded rapidly in recent years, and with the coming of special tariffs, enabling gas to compete with other fuels, a considerable number of houses are now centrally heated by gas.

We put in new installations for Odhams Press, the Daily Sketch, and Daily Mirror, which, added to those I have told you about in previous years means that almost the whole of the great newspapers in London are now on our list. In addition, our successes cover such diverse buildings as so and II, Downing Street, Sadler's Wells Theatre, Wembley Stadium, the Stock Exchange, the latest block of flats in Park Lane (Fountain House), the Office of Works building in Kingsway (Victory House), and last, and perhaps most notable of all, the new buildings erected by the Institution of Heat- ing and Ventilating Engineers. This last is a tribute indeed. We need not look for any better evidence of the intrinsic merits of gas for central heating and central hot-water supplies, nor of the great field for development which awaits us, than the fact that a body of specialist experts in the heating of buildings and houses should have selected gas central heating for its own corporate use.

KENSAL HOUSE SCHEME

As you know, Kensal House is in one aspect a demonstration of what we consider to be the ideal fuel service for working-class dwellings. It was opened in the beginning of 1937, and during 1938 we have seen the idea begin to extend.

The London County Council have decided to conduct an im- portant experiment on a large scale, based upon the Kensal House scheme, and, in addition, some to or 12 large private building estates have adopted the Kensal House system practically in its entirety, and estates built by the borough councils of Chelsea, Paddington, Stoke Newington, Islington, and Westminster have adopted some of its most important features.

The smoke abatement campaign has achieved during the twelve months since 1 spoke to you a success which surpasses our expecta- tions. We have had support from authoritative quarters in all parts of the country, and are particularly gratified that the cam- paign earned the blessing of the Minister of Health himself, Mr. Walter Elliot, and the Leader of the London County Council, Mr. Herbert Morrison, who expressed in the most direct terms the Council's resolve to do whatever it could, both as a great local authority and as one of the largest landlords in the country, to clean our skies and our homes.

A little later the First Commissioner of Works, Sir Philip Sassoon, reported to the House of Commons that Whitehall was no longer to be " Blackhall," and that every fireplace in the Government offices, as well as many of those in the House of Commons itself, were to be smokeless this winter. Smoke abate- ment is also one of the reasons why the Kensal House idea has been winning so ready an acceptance.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COKE

The past ten years has seen a very great improvement in the quality and standardisation of coke sold and also in the range and efficiency of coke-burning appliances. This progress is the direct result of technical research and marketing organisation carried out under the auspices of the London and Counties Coke Association.

As a result, the production of coke for sale in the South has increased during this period by nearly 1,000,000 tons, representing some 2,000,000 tons of additional coal carbonised.

Perhaps it may not be out of place if I take this opportunity of offering to the great public authority under whose supervision we operate, the London County Council, our warmest congratulations on the Jubilee which it will soon celebrate. The list of matters in which we and they have common interest and concern would probably surprise you by its length, and over this whole field of day-to-day discussion and co-operation there operates a snirit of practical good will, though neither party slackens its zeal for the proper performance of its own function.

In conclusion, the thanks of the directors are due to all grades in the company's service for their devotion to duty during the past year.

The report and accounts were adopted.

An extraordinary general meeting was then held to consider a resolution approving the London Gas Undertakings (Regulations) Bill now before Parliament. The Governor, after briefly explain- ing the Bill, mc.,ed the resolution, which was seconded and carried unanimously.