HOROWHENUA POWER BOARD.

Shannon News, 22 May 1925, Page 3

HOROWHENUA POWER BOARD.

ANNUAL STATUTORY MEETING. MR MONK RE-ELECTED CHAIRMAN. The annual statutory meeting oi the Horowhenua Power Board was held in the Council Chambers, Levin, on Tuesday, Mr G. A-, Monk, presiding. Before vacating the chair for the annual election of chairman, Mr Monk said he wished to express appreciation of the assistance rendered to him personally by the members of the Board during his term as chairman, and also of the excellent work they and the staff had done fotr the district during that time. The development of the scheme, Mr MOnk continued, had been quicker than the Board had expected, mainly owing to the assistance given by consumers who had displayed an eagerness to join up. There was a big desire by the people of the district to enjoy the convenience and comfort of electricity. He could say confidently that work could say confidently that the work of. the Board was up to expectations; he could go further and say that the development to date, made the scheme an assured success.

There were certain tilings, continued the chairman, to take into consideration, however. It was possible that the country was in for some up and downs, and it was felt that they should not lose time in creating a reserve fund. Whilst everything looked all -right at the present moment, the next year Wias going to be the hardest in the Board’s life, as the whole of the expenditure would have to come out of revenue. Should "ome of the industries of the country suffer a set back, tbe Board might experience difficulty in collecting revenue, and the creation of a reserve against such possible bad .times was essential.

Referring to the group system: Mr Overton had advised them that this should be adopted and he could say that without a shadow of a doubt it had been a great success. He feit that had the Board had to do the whole of the work itself, it would not have been able to givei the service which had been received by residents of toe district, whilst the work had undoubtedly been done at a very reasonable rate. The only class of consumer from whom the response had not been as satisfactory as had been anticipated had been the dairy farmers, but he felt that tins was due to a certain extent to the fact that the “juice” from Mangahao had not been available at the beginning of the season and farmers starting the :ar with internal combustion engines were not going to change over during the working season. He felt confident, however, that during the winter -and before the beginning of next season, a large number of applications would come forward. One thing that would probably help this was the fact that electric water-heaters were such an assured success, that they were practically essential now to the dairy fanner. Once a farmer had one of these in, and had the line built to his property, he might just as well put in a motor and complete the job. Mr Monk paid a high tribute to the manner in which the line construction throughout the district had been carried out. The work had certainly been done on a more solid scale than in some other districts, but against this was the fact that maintenance would be correspondingly less, whilst the standard of the job was equal, if not superior, to anything of the sort in New Zealand.

It was with' regret that he referred to toe fact that the Engineer, Mr Overton, would shortly be leaving them. He felt that it was almost entirely due to Mr Overton’s ability that the scheme had been carried through as expeditiously and satisfactorily us had been done. It was felt all dong by members of the Board that in their Engineer they had a man whom they could thoroughly trust, and this was a big thing. In fact as one man had told him, the Board deserved very little credit for what had been done—it was toe Engineer who had done ihe work. (Laughter and applause). Another matter for which they had to thank their Engineer was the fine manner in which the outside staff had worked. This had been favour ably remarked upon by a great many people, and was a tribute to Mr Overton’s organisation. In conclusion he desired to express toanks to the Press of the district for what they had done for toe scheme in the publicity always willinglygiven to the affairs of the Board..;

MR MONK RE-ELECTED CHAIRMAN. In nominating Mr Monk, Mr Mackay said that no fitter man could he got for the position and he had great pleasure in nominating him for a further term. Mr Seifert supported this: One thing he greatly appreciated was that toe chairman always made himself conversant with toe business of the meeting before it was held, and was in a position to give a lead, and an intelligent lead, on all matters. Mr Barber also spoke in favour of toe nomination, which was carried unanimously. Mr Monk, in taking toe chair, said that it was very satisfactory to feel that he had the full confidence ol the Board. He thought that by too end of the year, the main work of the scheme would be completed. Tlie County members woulcf then have to go to the people again for re-elec-tion, and if they could feel that they had done their duty, it was all that could be expected from them. He would like to thank members for the excellent team-work done by the Board and the great assistance given to him as chairman. Provided that this team-work existed it was remarkable what could be done by a local body, and it was gratifying to note its existence here. Again he thanked members for the confidence reposed in him.