A panic has occurred in gas shares and gas debentures,
which at one time threatened to assume serious proportions. The shares in one Company fell sixteen per cent., and in almost all the average fall amounted to a twelfth of their value. It is stated that the cause of the panic was the improvement which a Russian engineer officer has introduced into the manage- anent of the electric light, by which he is enabled from one battery to light many candles at the same time. It is asserted that he can produce a light equal to four hundred gas- burners for a shilling an hour, but admitted that his " candle" requires readjustment every hour. It is quite possible that the electricians are at last on the track of discoveries which will make the electric light available for popular purposes, but the public which has invested in gas shares would do well to remember one or two facts. There are great inventions, quite teal, which never come into practical use, such as the balloon, and there is nothing to stop the Gas Companies from'buying suc- teasful patents. If we are not misinformed, their statutes enable them to deal in any public means of lighting.
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