POWER BOARD POLES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4609, 3 October 1923, Page 2

POWER BOARD POLES.

SUITABILITY OF MATERIALS. ENGINEER TO REPORT. At the Thames Valley Power Board meeting, at Te Arpha yesterday it was suggested by Mr Strange that the engineers should forward a sample of the defective pole,s to the Government laboratory for an analysis. The defective poles had been received some time ago from Australia, and had been erected near Waitoa. Speaking on the subject of poles, Mr Gauvain said that some years ago, with MT Strange, he had gone exhaustively into the matter of securing suitable poles for the Board’s requirements, and also the suitability of concrete, poles, and had come to the conclusion that concrete poles were not suitable for carrying main lines, at any rate. Mr Strange said that experiments had proved that a 6in iron-bark pole had only bent under a strain that had broken a concrete pole 12in in diameter. The weight of concrete poles was a very deciding factor against them. They were necessarily too heavy, and too risky. It was not always possible to make such poles on t,lie ground where they were required for erection. Regarding the iron standards for carrying power llines, Mr Gauvain stated that in long .spans of line they were too costly, and could not compete with wooden poles in price. Iron standards had tp be either, galvanised before erection or else painted at regular intervals. Either of these operations added considerably to the initial cost and maintenance. Then, again, the difficulty with iron standards was that they could only be painted up to within about 4ft of the erpssarms without the whole supply of power being cut off that particular line. He was prepared to go further into the matter, and would submit a report at a later meeting.