ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2608, 2 November 1915, Page 9

ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY

REQUEST FROM MIRAMAR BOROUGH. With a view to reverting to the City supply for energy for the trams within the borough of Miramar, a letter was recently forwarded to the Wellington City Council asking 011 what terms power would be supplied for tramway and drainage pumping purposes to the Borough Council.' The reply, to that letter stated that the mains of the City were at present taxed to their utmost, and it would not be possible to grant the desired supply until after the installation of the Constable Street exten- | sion feeders, which would be completed about next Christmas. In connection with the above it will be remembered that in his annual report the City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton) sounded a note of warning with regard to powerhouse accommodation, and the advisability of both powerhouses being centred 'under the one roof for economical and working advantages. There is ) still n little room left for expansion at the Wakefield Street powerhouse, and part of that will .shortly be taken up by the installation of a Jiew Babcock and Wilcox boiler, but viewing the growth of the City and allowing for reasonable expansion, the matter of giving expression to the City Engineer's ideas will sooner or later have to be considered by the council. The answer to the Miramar Borough Council's letter indicates that with the opening of the Constable Street-Crawford Road section there will remain only a fair margin of safety. On the other hand the Borough Council was warned before it went in for its oil engine plant that it was extremely -unlikely that the scheme would pay, and also that, in view of the ever-existing contingency of amalgamation with tlie City, the setting up of a separate power station was inadvisable.