HOROWHENUA POWER BOARD

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3987, 22 August 1929, Page 2

HOROWHENUA POWER BOARD

♦ AUGUST MEETING,

The monthly meeting: of the Horowhenua Electric Power Board was held on Tuesday, in the Municipal Chambers, Levin, there being' present: Messrs G. A. Monk (chairman), T. G. Vincent, R. Bryant, E. S. Morse, A. E. Hyde, C. Blenkhorn, W. E. Barber, and A. J. Petherick, Mr. P. W. Goldsmith (secretary and treasurer) and Mr. J. A. Smith (engineer). STREET LIGHTING. The Foxton Borough Council applied to have the positions of three street lamps changed. The Engineer reported that tho matter was being; attended to. ELECTRICAL PUMPS FOR DRAINAGE. Mr. Ronald J. Law wrote stating that he proposed installing an electrically driven pump for the drainage of swamp property at Buckley. He asked for quotations on the following bases: —'(a) Flat rate, per annum; (b) 24 hours, per day; (e) 20 hours, per day; (d) night load only. A4to 5 h.p. motor would be required. The writer urged, the Board to make the prices as attractive as possible, as this installation would be the forerunner of many drainage pumps in the swamp area. He would be pleased to meet an officer of the Board on the ground.

The chairman (remarked that the Board’s rates were fixed. —Left in the hands of the engineer.

TREASURER’S REPORT

The following report was presented by the Treasurer: — Debentures. —The purchase of these debentures was completed on July 29th, when debentures, 30 in number for £IOO each with relative coupons attached, were delivered at the head office and the Board’s cheque for £3OOO was duly handed over to the sellers. The debentures are repayable in 1957, and bear interest, at 5£ per cent.

Accounts. —In addition to the be-fore-mentioned sum • of £3OOO for debentures, there is a further totalamount of £BSO 16s 9d to be confirmed by the Board. This sum is made up of: (1) Salaries for July, £292 1/8; (2) wages, £419 15/11; (3) installations, £57 18/-; (4) National Provident Fund, £42 5/6; and (5) miscellaneous payments for freights, deposits returned, bureau fees, etc., £3B 15/8.

Installations. —It will be of interest to the members to know that, in reference to the Board’s transactions under this head, some £58,000 has been collected to_July 31st last, and in round figures £3220 was outstanding at the date. The following table shows the transactions since the inception of the work: —

£61,301 £61,301 Cash Receipts.—The cash receipts for the month are:— Electricity, July, 1929, £4521 14/5; total for 4 months, £15,253 4/-. Penalties, July, 1929, £32 15/4; total for 4 months, £ll2 3/1. Sundry debtors, July, 1929, £514 0-10; total for 4 months, £1495 19/6.

Interest on installations, July, 1929, £2O 3/3; total for 4 months, £49 8/2. Miscellaneous, July, 1929, £63 6/5; total for 4 months, £264 9/2. Totals, £5152 0/3; £17,175 3/11. The chairman moved the adoption of the report. He said he thought that the position in regard to outstanding accounts for installations was very satisfactory. Accounts amounting to £3,051 19/11 were passed for payment;-’ In moving the adoption of the engineer’s report, the chairman referred to the Engineer’s request for condensers, and said that Air. Smith hoped to bring down eventually a scheme which would remedy a good deal of the trouble with the power factor. The engineer felt that, if a condenser were installed at W'hitaunui, *it would effect a considerable saving to the Board —at least fifty per cent, on the capital expenditure. Eventually this Boaird would have to do what other Boards had done to remedy this difficulty.

Air. Vincent, who seconded the motion, asked why the condenser was necessary at Whitanui, but not at other places where there were big fiaxmills. The Engineer stated, in reply, that at the Poplar mill, at Alessrs Ross, Rough and Co.’s main mill at Foxton, and at Seifert’s mill, there were synchronous motors, the magnetising of which was done by a direct-current generator on the same shaft, and these counteracted the bad effect of the other motors. The mills that had these motors for correction obtained a special rate. If the Whitanui mill put in the improvement, it -could have the slight reduction in the rate, but if -the Board put it in, the Board would get the benefit of it. It would not only benefit Whitanui, but, in the event of Whitanui not running, it would improve the power factor of all the other mills running between there and Foxton.

The report was adopted, and authority was given for the purchase of the two condensers and autotransformers.

Year ended — Debits iCash received March 31, 1924 £1,144 £1,102 March 31, 1925 20,567 7,677 March 31, 1926 24,211 20,506 March 31, 1927 8,876 12,458 March 31, 1928 3,428 5,503 July 31, 1929 620 1,405 Outstanding July 31, £58,081 1929 £3,220