Companies in Great Britain With Supplemental Chapters on the Boston Sliding Maximum Dividend Plans BY ROBERT H. WHITTEN Librarian-Statistician, Public Service Commission for the First District (Reprint of Appendix G of the Annual Report of the Public Service PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION FOR THE FIRST DISTRICT NEW YORK CITY This report is the result of some six months' special investigation and study undertaken in behalf of the Department on Regulation of Municipal Utilities of the National Civic Federation during the year 1912. The Public Service Commission, realizing the importance to its own problems of an investigation of this kind, granted me the necessary leave of absence to prosecute the work. The material having served the purposes of the Federation is now presented to the Commission in the hope that it may prove suggestive in the study of a number of the problems of public service regulation. In the preparation of this report a great deal of help has been received from two earlier reports on the sliding scale; one prepared in 1905 by Nathan Matthews for the Boston Consolidated Gas Company and the other in 1906 by a special committee authorized by the Massachusetts legislature and of which Forrest E. Barker, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Gas and Electric Light Commissioners, was chairman.1 In addition, I have, of course, examined the various documents, acts and treatises, and reference to the more important of the same appear in the text of the report. For much valuable data and many fruitful suggestions I am indebted to the personal conferences that it has been my pleasure and good fortune to have with the following gentlemen: G. L. Addenbrooke, M. I. E. E., Consulting Engineer, London. A. Bassom, Superintendent Public Carriage Branch, New Scotland Yard, Sir Alfred E. Bateman, Auditor for London gas companies Board of Trade. A. E. Broadberry, M. I. C. E., Manager Tottenham & Edmonton G. L. & 1 Nathan Matthews, Public Regulation of Gas Companies in Great Britain and Ireland, 1905, 113 pages; Report of Massachusetts Special Committee to Consider the London Sliding Scale, 1906, 85 pages. [3] Right Honorable John Burns, M. P., President, Local Government Board, London. H. Carlill, Railway Department, Board of Trade, London. Chas. H. Dade, Secretary, British Electrical Federation, Ltd., London. J. Dalrymple, General Manager, Glasgow Corporation Tramways. Robert Donald, Editor, Daily Chronicle, London. W. W. Duffield, Assistant Gas Examiner, City of London. A. R. Fearnley, General Manager, Sheffield Corporation Tramways. A. L. C. Fell, M. I. E. E., Chief Officer, London County Council Tramways. J. M. Fells, F. S. A. A., Incorporated Accountant, London. Thomas R. Ferens, M. P., Hull. Alfred E. Forstall, Consulting Engineer, New York. E. Garcke, M. I. E. E., President, British Electrical Federation, Ltd., W. Doig Gibb, Chief Engineer, South Metropolitan Gas Co., London. Robert Grant, Treasurer, Boston Consolidated Gas Co. W. E. Gray, Manager, The India Rubber, Gutta Percha & T. W. Co., Ltd., London. Robert Hammond, M. I. C. E., M. I. E. E., Consulting Engineer, London. E. Hatton, General Manager, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Corporation Tramways. Arthur Hewitt, Manager, Consumers' Gas Co., Toronto. F. W. Hirst, Editor, The Economist, London. A. B. Holmes, M. I. C. E., Electrical Engineer, Corporation of Liverpool. Herbert C. Honey, Harbor Department, Board of Trade, London. H. Ross Hooper, Inspector, Local Government Board, London. H. E. Howard, Comptroller, London County Council. R. J. Howley, M. I. C. E., The British Electrical Federation, Ltd., London. G. H. Hume, Member of London County Council. Frank Iago, Secretary, Westminster Electric Supply Corporation, Ltd., London. Atherley Jones, K. C., M. P., London. Sir Alexander H. W. Kennedy, Consulting Engineer, London. W. W. Lackie, Chief Engineer, Glasgow Corporation Electricity Department. H. B. Lees-Smith, M. P., London. R. J. Lester, Librarian, Board of Trade, London. Prof. Vivian B. Lewes, City of London Gas Examiner, London. W. L. Madgen, M. I. E. E., British Electrical Federation, Ltd., London. C. W. Mallins, A. I. E. E., Manager, The Liverpool Corporation Tramways. W. E. Mandelick, Secretary, Underground Electric Railways Company of London. S. B. Marsh, Accountant, Birmingham Corporation Tramways. F. M. McLeod, Secretary, South Metropolitan Gas Company, London. T. H. Minshall, Consulting Engineer, London. Ernest Moon, K. C., Speaker's Counsel, House of Commons, London. Alfred Moseley, C. M. G., LL.D., London. Wm. Newbigging, Consulting Engineer, Manchester. Arthur M. Paddon, M. I. C. E., London. Edward R. Pease, Secretary, The Fabian Society, London. J. L. Richards, President, Boston Consolidated Gas Co. William Richards, Auctioneer of Gas and Water Securities, London. P. Robertson, Assistant Editor, The Gas World, London. Morris Schaff, Mass. Gas and Electric Light Com'rs. A. Hugh Seabrook, Manager, Borough of St. Marylebone Electric Supply. A. G. Smith, Superintendent of Street Lighting, Liverpool. James Stewart, Editor, The Gas World, London. Hanbury Thomas, Managing Director, Sheffield United Gas Light Co. P. H. Thomas, Railway Department, Board of Trade, London. F. Thuman, Humphries & Glasgow, London. William W. Topley, Secretary, The Croydon Gas Company, Croydon. W. G. Towler, Secretary, London Municipal Society. E. Hartley Turner, Chartered Accountant, Manchester. W. Wastell, Deputy Secretary, City of Birmingham Gas Department. Alonzo R. Weed, Mass. Gas and Electric Light Com'rs. Adam G. Whyte, Editor, Electrical Industries and Investments, London. W. H. Winslow, Manager, Superior (Wis.) W. L. & P. Co. Hartley Withers, Seligman Bros., London. James Wood, Manchester Corporation Tramways. Sir Corbet Woodall, Governor, Gas Light & Coke Company, London. J. H. Woodward, Consulting Engineer, London. E. N. Wrightington, Boston Consolidated Gas Co. H. A. Yorke, C. B., R. E., Chief Inspector of Railways, Board of Trade, London. In carrying out my studies in Great Britain, Boston and Toronto it has been a constant source of surprise and gratification to me to find with what unfailing courtesy and generosity busy men have been willing to give of their time and thought to aid me as the representative of the Federation in pursuing this investigation. To all these and to the members of the committee themselves my grateful acknowledgments are especially due. ROBERT H. WHITTEN |