POWER BOARDS’ TRADING.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 296, 11 July 1929, Page 1

POWER BOARDS’ TRADING.

CURTAILMENT OPPOSED. Opinion in Thames Valley. Commenting or. the business transacted at the annual conference of power board secretaries, the manager of the Thames Valley Power Board, Mr. R. Sprague, stated at last week's meeting of the board that the very important question of power boards trading had again been discussed, while the principle of trading was also endorsed by the engineers’ conference. Mr. Sprague considered that the main conference should now move in the matter, and urge upon the Government that it was most essential for power boards, especially country boards, to trade. “ I am quite positive in stating that no private contractor, or electrical firm, can give the same service at such a small cost to the consumer as is given by the board,” said Mr. Sprague. “As previously ttat°d, when the hoard commenced operations in 1320, no provision whatever was made for trading, but owing to the methods adopted by the -aders, and at the request of the ' board’s consumers and ratepayers, it . was considered most necessary to establish this department in order to protect our consumers from the exploitation that was being done by one traders.

“ The 1928 cpmmittee, which is agitating for tfie abolition of the ’egislation which new gives boards f he power to trade, is, in my opinion, endeavouring to prejudice the Government and the general public, in order that they would then be in a position to control the prices and supply of appliances and installations to the financial detriment of oower boards’ consumers, and also retard the use of electricity in country districts. “ However, I consider that it is high time that the bluff of the 1928 Committee and Federation was called, and I can state without fear of contradiction that the methods adopted by this board will stand any investigation, which J regret cannot be said of some traders.” The hoard decided to strongly oppose any move by the Electrical Traders’ Federation to do away with trading by power hoards.

“ The term ‘ explosion ’ is a misnomer when applied to the effects of the earthquake in the Murchison district,” said Mr. H. F. Skey at Christchurch. The action which was referred to as an “ explosion,” said Mr. Skey, was the end-effect of a vast accelerating force. Energy travelled along a stratum, and when it came to the end of the stratum it had to be reflected. The same sort of thing happened when a boy at one end of a row gave a shove. The movement was carried to the end of the line, and the last boy, not having any resistance, was pushed over. A subterranean action of this sort had apparently started near Murchison, and it would account for the noises that were heard. Such subterranean noises often preceded a large earthquake, and with up-to-date instruments they could be located.

Mr. Willie Grey, Okato, informed a Taranaki News representative that it was not generally known that Taranaki (Mount Egmont) received its name from a celebrated chief named Rua Taranaki, whose pa was situated in the Puniho district. The older Maoris had a legend that had been handed down respecting the time when Mount Egmont was an active volcano, and some of their people had been overwhelmed by the flow of lava. This must, of course, have happened in the dim past, as geologists tell us that it is thousands of years since Egmont was an active volcano. Still, it showed how well the Maoris had handed down their old traditions when an event of such hoary age had not been lost.