THE FIRST POLE.

Shannon News, 24 July 1923, Page 2

THE FIRST POLE.

ERECTED IN LEVIN YESTERDAY. POWER BOARDS SYSTEM INITIATED. (From Saturday’s Levin’ Chronicle). Yesterday morning, quietly and without ceremony otnerthan the attendance of the Engineer and members of the Power Board staff, a grapher, a “Chronicle” representative, and a few of the -idly curious, the first pole of what will eventually-be the net-work of lines that will bring electricity with all its advantages and comforts to every part Of the Horowlienua Power Board’s district, was erected in Mako Mako road opposite the Board’s switching station. A hole six feet in, depth, had been dug, and the pole, 34ft in length, and approximately one ton in weight was lying alongside with the travelling crane in position, when the official party arrived. A thin steel, cable, looking too weak to stand the strain, was attached, and the pole with its three orossarms, braced- with 'iron., which carry the insulators to support; r the cables of the future, was quickly raised from the ground. The wire was so attached that • as it reached .the maximum height permitted by ,the crane the butt swung a foot off the ground, the pole being suspended-in a perpendicular position over the 6foot hole. Slowly the men on the crane lowered away, with the foreman guiding the. butt into position. A workman' sprung -forward with a cant-hook and gripping 'the pole, turned it round as it descended until it faced right direction, and as it reached thq position where, unless wireless ■ makes all such things unnecessary ;in the future, it will rest for the next fifty years, other men with pikepoles, stabbed and pushed it into the exact perpendicular. * •« At intervals during the operation . the photographer had 'taken photographs'of the operation, with . the group of those in attendance, records ' which may become of interest when the history of the district comes to. be written, and the different stages of its development chronicled. . ;; The pole set up forms the first of the line that will stretch to Shannon- Carrying the 11,000 voltage wires of .the main, district transmission linesr between Shannon, Foxton, Levin and Otaki., On the two top cross-arms are bolted six 4J lb porcelain insulators arranged in the .form of two equilateral triangles, and from the station alongside two sets of three harddrawn bare, copper wire cables will stretch out, three wires being needed to form a circuit. One of these sets will carry on 7-12-tn‘ch cables, the main nower from Shannon, and the ! other 7-i6-inch in dimension will form what is known ; as a local circuit' ! pr branch line, which will circle out round the base of the hills to the south. On the lower arm four smaller wires will conduct the current, broken down to service strength of 415 volts for power, and 240 volts for lighting, ■ to the local service district. -v Half an hour after the commence- 5 ment of work the pole was up, the earth rammed, and the gang ready, to move on to the next pole. They are working rather shorthanded at present, but the system will be, when everything is in order, to dig the holes beforehand; five men will then erect j the pole, and leave it in position for another couple to complete the work of filling in, while they move on to the next pole. At the rate of half an hour to each pole, or three-quarters to allow for digging the holes, it will nbt be long before the lines will stretch along each main, road, the lighter service lines, which will be erected more rapidly, connecting, every . house throughout the district, and removing once and for all, much of .the, drudgery and disadvantage of country life. A small thing perhaps, the erection of a pole, but it marks definitely the fact that the supply of electricity from Mangahao has passed from the nebulous to the concrete, stage, and watching it rising, into place, with behind it in the paddock the sawdust .dumps of the old sawmills, it was possible to visualise the immense strides the district has made—and is making,— since the not distant date when. Levin was merely a saw-milling township.