This page is a record of a collection relating to Fremantle.
- Title: Producing gas from Xanthorrhoea
- Authors: Henry Wray
- Published:
- Reference URL: https://freopedia.org/Producing_gas_from_Xanthorrhoea
- Authority control:
Part of the correspondence re the project proposed by Henry Wray RE to use xanthorrhoea to produce gas for lighting. Garry Gillard transcribed quite a bit of this before running out of enthusiasm.
Transcription
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Group: Colonial office
Class: Original Correspondence Western Australia
Number: 110
Description and Covering Dates: 1859 Jan-May Despatches (Convicts)
[printed folio 169 - this is one right-hand page]
6056 West Australia
Convicts
[stamp] Received 11 Jun 1859
[stamp] PRINTED FOR PARLIAMENT June 1860
Government House
Perth
April 15th 1859
Sir
I have the honor to transmit papers having reference to the proposal for lighting the Convict Establishment Fremantle with Gas extracted from the Xanthorrhoea and the receipt of an apparatus for that purpose
You will observe that my Predecessor in his Despatch no. 116 dated 7th November 1854 (a copy of which is herewith) recommended
[in the left margin, bottom]
The Rt Honble Sir E.B. Lytton M.P.
[double page with printed folio 170 on the right]
the adoption of gas in lieu of oil as a measure of expediency and economy and supported his recommendation by various papers and calculations copies of which I transmit. I also transmit a copy of the Secretary of State's reply thereto
This correspondence resulted in a demand for the necessary apparatus from England which owing to various causes was not supplied till about October 1858 when it arrived in the Colony
Its arrival was brought under my notice by Deputy Commissary General Williams in his letter (herewith) dated 21 December 1858
enclosing one from Deputy Assistant Commissary General Ball the Commissariat officer in charge at Fremantle dated 16th December 1858
On a careful perusal of all the papers and examination of the facts I arrived at the conclusion that the policy or prudence of proceeding with this experiment at a heavy outlay admitted of grave doubt and I therefore referred all the documents to a Board consisting of the Lieutenant Colonel Commanding the Troops, the Comptroller General of Convicts and the Deputy Commissary General for their inquiry and Report which I now transmit
[double page with printed folio 171 on the right]
I adopted this course with a view to placing the fullest information before you on a subject on which you will observe that there is much difference of opinion and conflicting statement
I need not enter into any lengthened statement on this subject beyond expressing my opinion as concurring generally with the Report of Lieutenant Colonel Bruce and Deputy Commissary General Williams
I would beg to request your instructions after a consideration of the papers I have now the honor to submit.
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your very obedient
humble Servant
A E Kennedy
Governor
[double page with printed folio 172 on the right]
Mr Elliot. This case is rather embarrassing. On apparently very sufficient grounds the Treasury were recommended to adopt the suggestion of the local Authorities for sending out the necessary apparatus for the manufacture of Gas for the Convict Establishment at Fremantle. The machinery has at length arrived and from the reports of the most impartial Judges it would appear that the recommendation was based upon a fallacy, and that it is very questionable whether after incurring the expense of sending out the machinery [that?] the best plan may not be to abandon the project. The Dispatch would of course go to the Treasury and as some opinion may be expected from this Department it might be best perhaps in the first instance to send to Captain Wray a Copy of the Dispatch and the enclosures in original [?] to ask for any remarks which he may have to make on the subject. The project appears to have chiefly originated with him and he is now in this Country acting under the War Office.
23 June
[another hand]
Refer to Capt. Wray as proposed?
[indecipherable]
==
Capt. Wray has now furnished his report in [7061?]. It will be found I think able and impressive.
It certainly is not a little difficult for any authority sitting in Downing Street to attempt to settle a disputed point about the use of gas illumination by a new process in a prison in Western Australia. But two or three general views we may I think venture to adopt.
It certainly is not a fair mode of argument to compare the cost of an inferior and inefficient supply of light with that of a far better illumination. The question must be whether the latter is desirable for purposes of security and discipline, and if so whether it can be better attained than by the proposed method.
There can be no doubt that lighting by gas is cleaner and more convenient than by oil, and probably also less attended by the want of a multiplicity of small stores which are always liable to waste and abuse.
As to the risk of mischief to be done by the convicts, it is to be observed that gas is now in use in all the prisons at home, and also in the prisons at Bermuda and Gibraltar, and that in the whole of them, so far as we are aware, its introduction has been considered a great benefit and has not led to any mischief done by the prisoners. It cannot be difficult to place the taps beyond their reach and they are constructed so as only admit of being turned by keys which of course are intrusted exclusively to the proper officers of the prison.
After an expensive apparatus has been furnished, and the means thus provided of trying an interesting experiment on one of the
[double page with printed folio 173 on the right]
chief vegetable products of the Colony, it should be with [great crossed out] reluctance that the attempt should be abandoned.
There is something in the look of the papers which gives an impression that there may be somewhat of a struggle between a party of progress and a party wedded to old ways. The Scientific Office intimate no fear of a want of practical success, and it is admitted the existent Corps of Sappers supplies men adequate to the manufacture and control of gas.
On the whole therefore I should lean to writing in such terms as, without being peremptory, would strongly support a decision in favor of trying the experiment. Capt. Wray's letter should doubtless be sent out for the Governor's information.
[initials of Elliot?]
21 July {?]
[another hand]
As far as I understand the case, I agree with Mr Elliot that it wd. be a pity not to give the gas a trial.
[initials]
[sideways on this page]
Western Australia
Convicts
no. 30
April 15th 1859
Governor Kennedy to
Sir G.B. Lytton
With reference to proposed
lighting of Convict Establishment
Fremantle with gas extracted
from Xanthorrhoea
==
Government House
Perth
January 8th 1859
Sir
I have the honor to request that you will put yourself in communication with the Comptroller General of Convicts and Deputy Commissary General Williams and report to me as to the expediency of proceeding with the experiment of lighting the Convict Establishment at Fremantle with gas extracted from the Xanthorrhoea
The papers transmitted herewith will put you in possession of all that has been proposed, written and done
[in the margin on the left
The Honble Lieutenant Colonel Bruce
[double page with printed folio 174 on the right]
done in reference to this project
the portion of this correspondence to which I would more particularly direct your attention is the letter of Deputy Commissary General Williams dated Perth 21st December 1958 from Deputy Assistant Commissary General Ball.
I would request the opinion of the Board on the following points:
1st Has the gas apparatus lately received been demanded from England altogether upon fallacious grounds?
2nd What was the estimated cost of lighting the Convict Establishment with gas extracted from the Xanthorrhoea including apparatus, buildings and labour?
==
3rd What is the actual cost of lighting the Establishment with oil at present?
4th Have any experiments been made of a nature sufficiently satisfactory to justify the prosecution of the proposed plan of lighting by gas?
5th Assuming it to the practicable and economical is it expedient to light the Establishment with gas rather than oil?
6th Would it be possible to find available skilled labour in the Colony to erect and work the apparatus received?
I shall feel obliged for any general remarks which the Board may offer on the subject submitted
[double page with printed folio 175 on the right]
for their consideration
I have etc.
(signed) A.E. Kennedy
Governor
A true copy
Henry Wakeford
Private Secretary
--
Western Australia
Government House
Perth
7th November 1854
Sir
I do myself the honor to forward for your consideration a plan and estimate of the cost of manufacturing an amount of gas from the resin of the Xanthorrhoea (commonly called the "blackboy") sufficient to effectually light the new prison at Fremantle in all its various compartments and separate cells devised by Captain Wray R.E. and submitted by the Comptroller General by which it
[in the margin on the left]
The Rt Honble Sir George Grey
[double page with printed folio 176 on the right]
appears a saving of nearly £1000 a year will be effected as compared with the cost of a less pure and cleanly mode of lighting either by oil or candles
2. On the hand the original outlay in carrying this scheme into operation for the purchase of the necessary apparatus, the construction of Buildings, Sheds etc etc will in the first instance required an outlay of £1,700. This though a somewhat large sum in the outset appears inconsiderable when compared with the annual saving of £1,000
3. The communication of of the Comptroller General draws attention to the merits of Captain Wray, and I most willingly avail myself of
==
this opportunity to convey to you the high sense I have always entertained of the practical talents and abilities of this most zealous and indefatigable officer, always anxious to devote himself to every purpose having in view the public advantage whether in his own immediate Department or otherwise
4. I also beg to draw attention to the statement of the Comptroller General that the demand for stores attached does not comprise the apparatus itself, which from want of sufficient detailed information the officers are unable to describe exactly, but if the description attached to the Store demands is placed in the hands of a manufacturer he will be able to complete the necessary details and furnish
[double page with printed folio 177 on the right]
the necessary apparatus
5. This Estimate of £1,700 is included in the estimated Convict Expenditure for 1855-56
6. It is unnecessary on this occasion to trouble you with any remarks on the possibility alluded to by the Comptroller General and Captain Wray of the Xanthorrhoea becoming an article of valuable export as I conceive it will be more prudent to await the success of the experiment in his colony before giving any opinion on the subject
I have etc.
(signed) Charles FitzGerald
Copy
Henry Wakeford
Private Secretary
==
Western Australia
Perth 17th March 1859
Sir
In reference to your Excellency's letter of the 8th January requesting us to report upon the expediency of proceeding with the experiment of lighting the Convict Establishment at Fremantle with Gas extracted from the Xanthorrhoea, we have the honor to acquaint you that we have carefully examined and maturely weighed the various documents transmitted for our consideration.
[in the left margin
His Excellency
Governor Kennedy
etc.
Perth
[double page with printed folio 178 on the right]
Shortly after the receipt of Your Excellency's instructions, we requested the attendance of the Comptroller General, Major Henderson RE, but indisposition having obliged that Officer to proceed for change of air to Rottnest Island, and press of public business having subsequently interfered, we did no meet, to discuss the merits of the Scheme together, until the 21st February, although during the intervening period we industriously endeavoured to make ourselves conversant with the subject.
At our first meeting the whole of the documents were,
--
at Major Henderson's request, handed over to the Officer, who undertook to furnish his observations thereon on that day week.
We accordingly met in that day, 28th Feb, but Major Henderson did not appear, his absence as he subsequently informed us, having arisen from forgetfulness occasioned by the pressure of this departmental duties.
On the 7th instant we again met, when Major Henderson produced the documents marked 1. 2. 3.: that marked 1 he took back to Fremantle for
[double page with printed folio 179 on the right]
the purpose of furnishing a fair copy, which we did not receive until the 12th instant, from which period up to the present time we have been closely occupied with official matters connected with the outgoing and incoming English Mails.
We have now before us all the information which we think we are likely to obtain in the subject, and as we do not concur in Major Henderson's conclusions, we cannot expect him to join in this Report, and therefore leave him separately to address your Excellency should he deem fit.
==
We shall now record our opinions upon the various points suggested for our consideration by your Excellency.
1st. "Has the Gas apparatus lately received been demanded from England altogether upon fallacious grounds"?
Certainly upon fallacious grounds as regards the contemplated saving of £1,000 annually D.A.C. Genl. Sutherland shows, in Mem. A, that for the Year 1854/55, when the gas substitution was first proposed, the cost of lighting the Establishment was only about £350 a year.
Certificate (B) from D.A.C.
[double page with printed folio 180 on the right]
Genl. Ball gives the cost of lighting for the year ended 30th November last £205.12.0, and in consequence of the reduction of the ration and the low rate of contract for Oil for the ensuing year, the prospective cost of lighting (in the scale which has existed since the formation of the Establishment) will be only £123.7.0.
Great discrepancy will be found to exist between the Statements B of D.A.C. genl. Ball and No. 3 of Mr Superintendent Dixon.
Reference is requested to Memo. of D.A.C. Genl. Ball attached to this letter, which explains that the 1st is based
==
on the existing system of lighting, and the 2nd on what in Mar Dixon's opinion is requisite, provided the Establishment be lighted up in the manner he considers necessary.
It will be for the Comptroller General to satisfy your Excellency that it is important to increase the number of lights within the Prison, but so far as our information extends there has been no complaint of insufficient lighting, excepting as regards the external walls, which Lieut. Colonel Bruce has always maintained should be lit up in order that sentries posted outside might be enabled to keep an efficient look out during the darkest night.
[double page with printed folio 181 on the right]
The cost, however, of this exter [external?] lighting, for which 34 lamps are deemed sufficient, would only amount, at the present contract price of Oil, to £84.18.6 per annum.
2nd. "What was the estimated cost of lighting the Convict Establishment with Gas extracted from the Xanthorrhoea including apparatus, buildings and labour?"
The original Estimate gives £1018.15.9 as the cost of the apparatus and necessary Buildings, and for setting it up; and £680.18.10 for pipes, cocks, burners and lamps. It also gives the cost of producing the requisite supply of Gas as £330.11.3 per annum; whilst the Comptroller General now alleges, in his memo
==
No. 1, that the apparatus once established the cost will not exceed £10 a year. He further states, that if Oil continues to be used, sheds and a lamp house will be necessary; and that consequently, as regards preliminary expenses they will be the same whether gas or oil be resorted to.
3rd. What is the actual cost of lighting the Establishment with Oil at present?"
Shown by D.A.C. Genl. Ball to be, vide B, £123.7.0 for the ensuing year.
4th. Have any experiments been made of a nature sufficiently satisfactory to justify
[double page with printed folio 182 on the right]
the prosecution of the proposed plan of lighting by gas"?
We addressed a letter (C) to Messrs. Carter & Co. of Fremantle and received the reply D; in addition we beg reference to the remarks, No. 2, of the Clerk of Works, Mr. Manning, which comprise all the information we can obtain under this head.
5th. Assuming it to be practicable and economical is it expedient to light the Establishment with Gas rather than Oil.
The practicability of lighting the Establishment with gas produced from the Xanthorrhoea is not doubted; but the economy is very questionable. Therefore
==
we deem it a subject for serious reflection, considering the large outlay necessary for setting up the costly apparatus imported, whether the experiment should be persisted in - especially, as like all partially developed schemes, it is still liable to the risk of failure.
6th. Would it be possible to find available skilled labour in the Colony to erect and work the apparatus received"?
Doubtless the Royal Engineer Department possess sufficient knowledge and skill to erect and work the apparatus; but it is worthy of consideration whether the attention and labour
[double page with printed folio 183 on the right]
of persons of this Department would not be more profitably employed in the many other avocations with which they are charged.
In accordance with the concluding paragraph of Your Excellency’s letter, which invites any general remarks we have to offer, we beg to observe that we consider it a subject of serious regret that the costly gas apparatus recently received from England was applied for.
We can only attribute the miscomputations which have apparently influenced, directly or indirectly, the different parties by whose data and Reports the late Governor, Captain Fitzgerald,
==
was led to support the Scheme, to the excitement of the first trials of a new experiment, which unconsciously impelled them to exaggerate the cost of lighting by means of Oil, and thereby to place too prominently forward the new discovery.
We cannot bring ourselves to believe, were the apparatus now set up and at work - looking to the cost of superintendence, for Engineer labour is not gratuitous - to the supply of the Xanthorrhoea, the facilities for obtaining which must gradually diminish, as well as to the contingent expenses of the Gas Establishment - that the expenditure for lighting the Fremantle Prison would not far exceed
[single page with no printed folio on the right - presumably the right hand has 184, but was not copied for this purpose]
the annual outlay by means of Oil, and that too after making provision, under the present system, for efficiently lighting the external walls.
Under these circumstances we are of opinion the Gas apparatus should not, at all events be set up until the Comptroller General satisfies your Excellency that such an increased number of lights is absolutely requisite as will make the saving by means of Gas real and of magnitude and thereby justify the cost of an experiment in pursuit of economy.
We have the etc etc
(signed) J. Bruce, Lieut. Colonel Commanding the Troops.
Charles Williams
D.C.G.
A true copy
Henry Wakeford
Private Secretary
[single page with printed folio 185 on the right, the lack of photocopy implying nothing is written on the left]
Memorandum
I do not concur with Col. Bruce and Deputy Commissary General Williams in the opinion that the Gas apparatus was demanded from England on fallacious grounds.
There is no doubt the that Experiments made by Capt. Wray RE resulted in the production of an excellent Gas - and whether his calculations as to the exact amount of saving increased precisely according to the different elements of calculations admitted by others, there is no doubt that
[double page with printed folio 186 on the right]
a very large saving would have accrued if the whole Prison were lighted with Gas instead of with Oil a the price at which Captain Wray was then necessitated to calculate it.
The cost of lighting the prison in 1854-55 is stated to have been £358, but the Prison was then but half finished.
[There is a note written against this paragraph at an angle, possibly in pencil, as follows:]
It was not finished at all - The South Wing was occupied in June 1855 - and this Estimate has reference to the old Prison
H. Wray
Capt [?]
11/7
And in reference to the Memorandum marked E of D.A.C. Genl. Ball it is only necessary to observe that his remarks as the "increased quantity of light now proposed being a new and groundless idea" and also upon "the inconsistency of the Estimate drawn up by the Superintendent"
==
are altogether fallacious.
The increase in the number of lights comprised in Return No. 3, as necessary for the permanent lighting of the Prison when fully occupied, over and above those now in use, is due to the 300 cells never yet occupied, to the new Hospital and Yards also not yet occupied and to the outside lamps.
Neither is there any inconsistency in the Estimate the Scale being that now in force.
I have stated my opinion on the other points adverted to in the Report in the Memorandum marked No. 1.
The great reduction in the
[double page with printed folio 187 on the right]
price of Oil has of course in addition to the reduction in the ration as recommended by Mr. Dixon, put the large saving estimated by Capt. Wray out of the question but as the apparatus has been supplied I think we are justified in using it; unless there is a probability that the Fremantle Prison will never be fully occupied in that Transportation to the Colony is likely to be of brief duration - Neither of which Contingencies were thought probable when the apparatus was sent for.
I may observe that the Prison has never been yet fully occupied being indeed scarcely finished and that pending the decision of Oil or Gas has never been properly lighted
(signed) E.Y.W. Henderson
[written below in a different hand:]
A true copy
Henry Wakeford
Private Secretary
[page number written by hand] 102
==
Received 12 March 1859
No. 1.
[printed page number] 187
Memorandum as to the lighting of the Prison at Fremantle with Gas, as proposed by Capt. Wray RE.
I append a Statement made by Mr. Manning, Clerk of Works, relative to the Gas apparatus and the experiments made by Capt. Wray RE.
Also a Statement made by Mr. Dixon, Superintendent of the Convict Establishment as to the number of lights required for the prison and the cost if lighted with Oil.
Capt. Wray's experiments were quite successful in producing a good light on this point Mr. Manning and Sergeant Nelson RE can speak positively.
The estimated cost of the apparatus and the necessary buildings was
[note written in the left margin possibly in pencil:]
Capt. Henderson saw the light himself more than once
HW
11/7
[page number written by hand] 103
... there's much more ...
== References and links ----==
Public Record Office, London.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 15 September 2022 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/xanthorrhoea.html (it was last updated on 17 March, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.