POWER BOARD MATTERS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4872, 2 September 1925, Page 1

POWER BOARD MATTERS

DOINGS OF THE MONTH. MANAGER’S REPORT. The manager of the Thames Val'ey Electric Power Board rpeorted to yesterday’s meeting of the board as follows ;— Public Works Dredge—The Public Works Department’s dredge has commenced operation on the Waihou River, and from observations is working satisfactorily and economically. “Shortage of Material. —Installations have been delayed owing to shortage of material, but no delay in the installation of milking motors has been experienced. The main shortage has been bn account of %in conduit and copper wire, but this is now to hand and the work is being speeded up accordingly. There are letters from the contractors before you explaining the reason for the bad deliveries.

“Debentures—The debentures from the Public Trustee for the £50,000 loan have been sealed and signed by the chairman and manager and returned to Wellington.

“Transformers. — The successful tenderers for transformers were A.' D. Riley and Co. and A. S. Paterson. Special arranegments have been made for early deliveries.

“Further Reticulation.—lt will be necessary for the board to consider before the end of the summer what roads, arc to be reticulated during the winter months. . The present arrangement with the county engineers is to obtain their permission before any carting is done on the roads in their respective counties. There is a letter. from the county engineer for Matamata in the correspondence which will give you an idea of the procedure adopted. The solution is for all the material (poles, wire, etc.,) to .be carted on to the roads to be reticulated before the wet weather sets, in. This will mean having stocks of material on hand some months before using. Most of .the metal roads in the board’s territory are now reticulated, and the board has in the past received the utmost consideration and assistance from the members and officials of the local bodies within the board’s area.

‘'Consumers. —The total number of consumers connected to the board’s mains at August 31, 1925, was 5157, which includes the boroughs of Thames and Te Aroha. During the month 34 lighting amd heating consumers, 41 water-heaters, and 4 electric stoves, together with 33 motors on farms, of which 30 are 2-h.p. milking motors, were connected. The number of motors connected and running on farms is 1321, of which 1186 are 2-h.p. milking motors. Quite a number of the motors installed are on lines that have been erected for some time, and for the five months ended August 31, 1925, 130 2-h.p. motors for milking purposes have been installed and connected to the board’s mgins. “Portable Sub-station. —The electric truck which is being converted into a portable sub-station will be completed during the present week and will commence the drying c>ut of transformers on September 7.”