By Isle of Wight Observer
The Isle of Wight Observer published on 8th February 1902 included this account of a spat between a utilities company and Ryde’s Town Council. They said that their “excellent gas” was not to blame for poor street lighting.
PUBLIC LIGHTING.- No doubt the Town Council have been moved by the force of public opinion to do something in the matter of public lighting, and a letter which appears elsewhere voices the dissatisfaction which generally prevails as regards this matter. We understand the Town Council asked the Gas Company to take over all the public lamps existing in the town, and to be responsible for the whole of the public lighting arrangements.
As the majority of the lamps and appliances of the town are old, and many of them obsolete, the Gas Company declined to take them over, but we understand they have made the Council a very good offer, viz., to fix and maintain 280 lamps of the newest pattern, similar to that in Lind Street near the Town Hall Chambers. This offer, we understand, will be discussed at the next meeting of the Council. The Gas Company do not apparently recognise the necessity of “waking up.” They assert that they supply the local authorities with excellent gas, and that if they don’t treat it properly, that is not the fault of the Gas Company. It would be just as reasonable to blame the meat purveyor when the cook spoils a nice piece of meat through a faulty oven. That is virtually the reply of the Gas Company to Mr Hansford’s adjuration to “wake up!”.