M 4. Analysis of special items. Glasgow. Since 1876 the city has had no power to spend profit in aid of rates (see inquiry D 15), but the following amounts have been paid to the city for specific purposes: Since 1900 no part of the profits of the undertaking has been applied to the general purposes of the corporation. London-S. M. Since December, 1901, under the company's special act of 1900, the standard dividend has been 4 per cent, and the standard price 3s. 1d. per 1,000 feet, with an increase of dividend of 2s. 8d. per cent for every reduction in the price of gas. The following table shows the price of gas and the corresponding dividends to which the shareholders would be entitled: The company has not always paid the full dividend to which it is entitled, as appears by the following table, which shows each half year from 1901 to 1905 the amount the company was entitled to pay and the amount actually paid : The dividends paid in 1905 were free of income tax; that is, the income tax had been paid and included in the item of "taxes" in the accounts. Sheffield. The dividends of £86,848 included income taxes of £6,052; that is, the shareholders received net £80,796. This amount of £6,052 is not included in the item of "taxes" in the above accounts. GENERAL HISTORY AND LEGISLATION British Electricity Supply Works (Schedule I) By MILO R. MALTBIE Sources: As Schedule I. relates principally to the statutory and legal provisions affecting the undertakings examined, the most important sources are the acts of Parliament and judicial decisions. Of almost equal value are the Sessional Papers, especially in those instances where special reports have been made by select committees of Parliament, and where the evidence has been printed in full (London principally). Occasionally a verbatim report of the proceedings before a Parliamentary committee when a private bill affecting the undertaking, usually for the grant of powers or the extension of capital, may be found, but ordinarily no record is kept, and when printed they are issued by the city or the company itself. The records, reports and documents of the city department or of the company, as the case may be, often contain much of value, especially those issued when the undertaking was started or when changes in management were actually made or mooted. In the case of municipal plants or when a transfer of the undertaking from the company to the city is being considered, the council minutes are useful. The principal secondary sources which are of such high standing as to be recognized as authentic in every respect, are: Hudson, editor: "The Manchester Municipal Code." 6 vols. Hope: "Handbook compiled for the Congress of the Royal Institute of Public Health" (Liverpool). Bell and Paton: "Glasgow: Its Municipal Organization and Administration." Corporation of Glasgow: "Handbook on the Municipal Enter prises." Garcke: Manual of Electrical Undertakings and Directory of Officials." 10 vols. Rawlinson & Johnston: "The Municipal Corporations Acts and other Enactments 9th Edition. The Electrician: "Electrical Trades' Directory and Handbook." 24th year. Will: "The Law Relating to Electric Lighting, Traction and Power." 3d Edition. In each town, there is usually a considerable amount of pamphlet and periodical literature which throws some light upon the situation. To supplement the data obtained from the above sources, interviews were had with the principal city officials, officers of the companies, American consuls, and citizens connected in no way with the company or the municipality. Principal Acts of General Application. Companies Clauses Consolidation Acts, 1845-1889. Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts, 1845-1895. Local Loans Act, 1875, c. 83. Public Health Act, 1875, c. 55. Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, c. 50. Employers' Liability Act, 1880, c. 42. Local Government Act, 1888, c. 41. Workmen's Compensation Acts, 1897, c. 37, and 1900. Electric Lighting Acts, 1882, c. 56; 1888, c. 12; 1899, c. 19. Acts Applicable to London Only. London Overhead Wires Act, 1891, c. LXXVII. Metropolitan Superannuation Act, 1866, c. XXXI. Individual Undertakings. Manchester Electric Lighting Orders, 1890 and 1896. Manchester Corporation (General Powers) Act, 1897, c. CCXLI; 1902, c. CXXXVIII. Liverpool Electric Lighting Order, 1896, c. XII. Liverpool Corporation Act, 1893. Liverpool Improvement Act, 1882. Glasgow Corporation Electric Lighting Orders, 1890; 1902, c. Glasgow Corporation (Gas and Water) Act, 1899, c. CLXII. Gosforth Extension Electric Lighting Order, 1900. Walker & Wallsend Union Gas Company's (Electric Lighting) Act, 1899. Walker & Wallsend Union Gas Company's (Electricity Capital) Act, 1900. Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company's Acts, 1900, 1902, 1903. Newcastle-upon-Tyne [District] Electric Lighting Order, 1891, c. CVI. Newburn Electric Lighting Order, 1902. City of London Electric Lighting (Brush) Orders, 1890, c. CCXXXIX; 1891, c. CCXII. City of London (East District) Electric Lighting Order, 1890, c. CCXXXIX. Southwark Electric Lighting Order, 1891, c. LXV. City of London Electric Lighting Acts, 1893, c. LXXXV; 1900, c. City of London Sewers Act, 1848, c. CXXXIII. St. James Electric Lighting Order, 1890, c. CXCIV. St. James & Pall Mall Electric Light Company's Act, 1899, c. Central Electrical Supply Company's Acts, 1899, c. LXXXVIII; 1905, c. CLXXV. A-HISTORICAL AND GENERAL. Date when this undertaking began to sell electricity. A 2. If it is a municipal plant, was current being supplied by a private company when city began operation? A 3. Character of original organization, whether individual, firm, corporation, municipal or other form. A 4. Character of present organization, whether individual, firm, corporation, municipal or other form. 1 ...December, 1891. ..November, 1890. April, 1889.... Does not distribute current. As will be seen in the answers to inquiries A 5-8, the city had power to experiment with electric lighting as far back as 1879, and a private company tried to operate in 1884, but not until 1888 was a general supply begun. 2 Current was being supplied to a few consumers prior to 1890, but without legal authority. See inquiries A 5-8 below. These words will be used throughout the following pages to distinguish respectively the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company Limited, the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company Limited, and the City of London Electric Lighting Company Limited. A 5. A 6. A 7. Give date and character of changes in ownership since origin. A 8. State fuly reasons for each change. Manchester. Apparently neither the municipality nor a private company had seriously proposed to establish an electric lighting plant in Manchester prior to 1881, when the Gas Committee of the council determined to apply to Parliament for authority to erect a generating station and to lay mains in certain streets. Their application was, however, denied at the instance of the President of the Board of Trade, on the ground that no authority should be granted by special act prior to the passage of a general law which he intended to introduce into Parliament. After the enactment of this measure in 1882, the City Council unanimously resolved, upon October 25, to apply to the Board of Trade for a provisional order authorizing the establishment of a municipal plant. The draft of the order prepared by the city officials was not acceptable to the Board of Trade, and the conditions which it insisted upon were not considered by Manchester reasonable and proper. The consequent deadlock resulted in the defeat of the proposal. Within the next few years practically nothing was accomplished. The Board of Trade did not seem willing to recede from its position, and the city council was equally determined. No private company came forward with a proposal to supply the city, and nothing was done until 1889, when six companies gave notice to the council, as required by the statute, of their intention to apply to the Board of Trade for the necessary authority to supply current. In the mean time, the gas committee, which still had charge of the matter, had been considering the advisability of making another attempt to secure powers, and finally recommended that a special meeting of the council be called to consider the matter. This was done and upon August 7, 1889, by a vote of 56 to 0, the council decided to promote a provisional order. The following year it was issued by the Board of Trade and approved by Parliament. As it is still in force with certain amendments made in 1896, its provisions will be found in the following pages. For the first few years the undertaking was managed by the gas committee, but in 1897 it had grown to be so large, and separate control seemed so advisable, that a separate committee was appointed under whose management it is at the present time. Liverpool. Electric lighting was first considered by the city in 1878, when the city engineer was asked to report upon the advisability of lighting the public streets by this method. The following year an act was obtained authorizing the city to carry on experiments for a period of five years. Practically nothing was accomplished, and no attempt being made to have it renewed, the act expired in 1884. In the meantime, bids for lighting certain public places were called for, and a private company undertook to supply current on |