Yes, even to this day, London's "Lighting Improvement Plan" had yet to officially begin.
Manchester, on the other hand, had begun laying Gas Streetlights, but City Hall and the construction company were steeped in mutual suspicion. The former feared another "Lightning Coal Industry" emerging, so it pinched every penny of the project funds and conducted assessments at the slightest provocation. The latter feared the project might be abruptly terminated, so it only dared purchase small batches of raw materials each time and was unwilling to hire many workers.
Thus, what cities, London included, saw was Manchester investing over 200,000 Pound Sterling and spending a year and a half, yet still digging the foundations for a Coal Tar distillery.
Rumors spread that Manchester's lighting improvement project was also a scam, and investors all kept their distance.
Stoke shook his head and muttered, "Oil lamps aren't all that bad, really. They're just a little dimmer, and at least they don't waste hundreds of thousands of Pound Sterling." Though that was what he said, the scene from last year's trip to Paris for the Drama Festival surfaced in his mind. That bustling, affluent city brimming with a sense of technology had gradually become the center of all Europe.
The carriage suddenly slowed.
Stoke leaned out. Through the fog, he vaguely saw a huge crowd gathered before the walls of City Hall Square, while several officials pasted notices onto the wall.
His coachman shouted loudly, driving away those blocking the road as he squeezed with difficulty through the street, which had been reduced to a mere fifth of its former width.
As Stoke passed the notice, he finally saw that it was an announcement concerning the government's relaxation of Cane Sugar prices.
He had heard something about it. Recently, with India's Sugar Cane harvest