ELECTRIC POWER

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 542, 27 May 1933, Page 6

ELECTRIC POWER

Our Own Correspondent.)

HON J. B. GOW RE-ELECTED CHAIRMAN FOIR YEAR ANNUAL MEETING HELD

(From

Opotiki, Friday. The following were present at the annual meeting of the Bay of Plenty Power Board held to-day. Hon. J. B. Gow (chairman), Messrs W. Gault, J. W. Sumner, F. J. Burt, S. Maxwell, A. Peebles, W. Burrett, J. J. Moody, J. D. Dicker (engineer-manager), jG. Lancaster (consulting engineer, Wellington). Before ealling on the secretary to read the minutes th'e chairman welcomed the members elected to repre- • sent the borough Messrs W. Burrett and J. J. Moody a.nd proposed that a ietter of regret be sent to Mr. J. Tabb who had been unsuccessful in the recent elections. After the reading of the minutes, the secretjary hook th'e ch^.r, and called for nominations for the position of chairman. The Hon. J. B. Gow being the only person nominated, he was duly declared elected. On the motion of Mr. L. Maxwell the chairman's honorarium was fixed at £100 for the ensuing year. Mr. Gow, in thanking the board for electing him as chairman, said that he appreciated the reduction of the honorarium from £130 to . £100 and had it been fixed at £130 he had intended to ask that it be reduced to £10°. ' . This concluded the- business of the annual meeting and the ordinaxy meeting was held immediately afterwards. Engineer Congratulated , Mr. Peebles speaking to^ the engin-eer-manager's report said that he

on the way in which it was prepared, but h'e suggested that he would! like to have time to peruse the reports before the meeting as they contained a great deal of technical phraseology which he found difiicult to grasp on an immediate reading. He had much pleasure in moving the adoption of the report. Mr. Sumner in seconding the adoption of the report said he also wished to congratulate the engineer-man-ager for his extensive report. He (Mr. Sumner) came from an out-lying district where there had been a certain amount of dissatisfaction in the past year, but at a de-rating meeting which had recently been held in his district, he had taken the opportunity of explaining something of the working of the board and had given them comparative figures between this and certain other ' boards which had proved most interesting to his audience and had also cleared away the criticism which had previously been made. The engineer-manager's estimates for the ensuing year and the suggestions for possible relief to consumers gave rise to considerable discussion, members obviously being anxious to grant as great a relief as pos'sible without running the risk of having to strike a rate. It was finally decided that the report should be adopted and that the situation should be again reviewed after the loan conversions.

General Business Mr. S. Maxwell, speaking on th'e cost of the board meetings, proposed that the ordinary board meetings be held every two months instead of monthly, with a vieiv to saving ex-

pense. He suggested that such a step would save the board ninety odd pounds. Mr. Sumner suggested that the efficient working of the board was inore valuable than the saving likely f0 result and accordingly moved an amendment that the board meet monthly. The amendment was carried. Mr. Peebles proposed that any three members of the board should comprise a finance committee. — Carried. Messrs Vickerman and Lancaster were re-appointed as consulting engineers to the board. Mr Lancaster thanked the board and recalled that ihis firm had been connected with the board since 1923. Speaking as one keenly interestecl in the working of the board he said that he considered the administration and work of the board was very good indeed. After going very carefully1 into th'e balance sheet and reports, he had come to the conclusion that the board's charges were ^ extremely reasonable and on comparison with other districts they would be found to' be very low indeed. This was th'e reason why the board was unable to make any further reductions .than they were doing because, in fact the reductions had been made from the beginning. » , •