§ MR. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Gas Light and Coke Company have just issued notice to their consumers 910 raising the price of gas to 3s. 5d. per 1,000 feet, and that these notices state that the enhanced price will be charged from the date of recording meter indices for the June quarter, the company thus claiming to charge the enhanced rate for gas consumed during a week or ten days, or even longer, before the notices were served; and whether he will exercise the powers vested in him by section 45 of the Metropolis Gas Act, 1860, which (inter alia) provides that if it appears to the Secretary of State that a metropolitan gas company is acting in a manner unauthorised by law, and it would be for the public advantage that the gas company should be restrained from so acting, he may set the Attorney General in motion to take proceedings at law to restrain the wrongful action of the company.
§ MR. RITCHIEThis applies to the Board of Trade. I am not aware of any obligation upon the company to give notice of their intention to raise the price of gas. The obligation to give such notice imposed by the Metropolis Gas Act, 1860, no longer exists. It was superseded by the sliding scale provisions applicable to the various companies.