POWER BOARD FINANCES.

Shannon News, 23 December 1924, Page 4

POWER BOARD FINANCES.

METERS, TO BE HEAD AFTER HOJUIDAXE.

At Tuesday’s meeting qf the llorowhenua rower Board, the treasurer, Mr P. ,W. Goldsmith, reported as ioiiows:— '

it wifi be remembered that at the last meeting of - the Board! the. Commissioner made a debate offer of tne new toad of £40,000 upon the saim terms as the previous one, viz., uit loan to be repayable hy 76 hau-year-iy payments of £11:56 H?S 5d eacn. in tne hist payment of this amount the sum of £I2OO represents interest at 6 per cent., the balance of J 056 16s 5d representing the half-yearly repayment of principal It) was further stated that the Board would have to' pay a holding fee of about £IOO, and that the first instalment Qf £SOOO would -be paid in March. J.I will, iuao r>e itiiiciiiucit;a lnu.l iu> uiq icLaL iuecijiiig Uiu HucUU auyiiwinsea a nans, overdraft. Owing to. large hncUiCxtu ueuiauus iQr carrying nut die .various .wiring groups contracts unu ract inat repaymeuis were, as yet not. great .also having to meet in December, interest due in &>uney, tins vvds deemed necessary so unu any demands in excess or loan, money available could he temporarily met. Arrangements we.re accordingly made with our hankers for an overdraft up to nauuo if the money was needed. owing to the proposed hoidmg fee ; of Biuu being , a new charge to tne Board and one which required some explanation, i wrote to tne Commissioner m reference to the matter and suggested that if -this , fee was imposed because the Board did not take up the money early enough arrangements could be made whereby a portion Qf it could he taken up say two months earlier. The reply of the Commissioner was that it woffid suit the Department if the Board could up half of the loan, £20,000/ in December, and the balance by. instalments whenever desired. Alter, going, into the whole positioh very carefully and alter consulting with the chairman, I wrote to the GommissiQner that the Board would accept £IO,OOO of. the loan in December, and the balance as previously arranged. Tlhis arrangement means of course, that we have to pay interest on the amount earlier than was originally intended, but against that the Board saves the holding fee - of £IOO, which * will not now be charged, and the Board will • also save the interest on any overdraft we . might have had tq pay to the Bank, through our loan monies hot coming to hand fast enough to meet our engagements, for of course with the.loan money available under this arrangement, nq overdraft will be necessary. -■ I now place before the Board a statement prepared in order to show . financial engagements and requirements as from the 24th November, 1924, to the 31st Mardh, 1925. . Contracts entered into 'amount to £19,000 and although a good deal of this will eventually be refunded to the Board, yet it will in the meantime have, to be provided for. Since last meeting we have received £lOlO 0s lid for''installations—making a total to date for - deposits and installations of £5612 8s Bd. Since June, accounts for installations have been sent oiit totalling £5156 4s 2d.

Meter reading will be done immediately after the. holidays. I propose to arrange for Otaki and Foxton consumers who do not pay the meter reader, to have an opportunity to pay their accounts for current in their respective towns, and' if possible, to get the Borough Councils of Foxton and Otaki to 'undertake this duty for tfte Board. ..