HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

Shannon News, 23 April 1929, Page 1

HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

MEETING OP THE POWER BOARD. The Horowhenua Power • Board held ,tlie last meeting of the members ’ present term, of office on Tuesday in the Municipal Chambers, Levin, there being present: Messrs G. 4* Monk (chairman), W. E. Barber, T. G. Vincent, E. R. Bryant, E. S. Morse, C. Blenkhorn, A. J. Petherick and A. Seifert, (Mr. P. W. Goldsmith, secretary and treasurer) and Mr. J. A. Smith (engineer). Statistical Returns. • A circular was received from the District Electrical Engineer,* asking for statistical returns. The secretary explained that the Government statistician had to be furnished with a very elaborate return, jvhich had to be compiled,by the engineer and the office staff/ and which inad to be submitted to the Mangahao office of the Public Works Department before being sent in. • Electrical workers’ Dispute. Advice-was received from the Electric Power Boards’ Association that it was looking after the interests of .the Boards ib regard to the claims of .the Electrical Workers’ Federation. The secretary stated that the Board had only one man concerned in the wages proposals. / The chairman mentioned. that the matter was receiving the attention of the executive. Otaki Tire Brigade Siren. The Otaki Fire Board wrote contending that the charge of £3 per annum for power for the recently installed electrical siren was out of proportion to the amount of current used. Tjhe fires ’ numbered approximately six a year, and there had not been one for. the last nine months. [The Board suggested a charge ofj 10s a year. / ■ ' “They are fortunate if they get oft with £3 a year and no fires, ’ ’ said the chairman.

The secretary stated that there was a 1 l-3rd h.p. motor to blow the siren. The rate was based on the minimum charge. , The chairman said that the. Board Lad to go into the question of revision, of seme other charges, and the matter miglit. be dealt with then. This Course was agreed to. » A Boundary Question. Messrs W. and K. Taylor, Otaki Railway, wrote making enquiries regarding ;tke service line which the Board had put in for Mr. K. 11. Taylor. It was noted that the Board had charged him from the main roal. which meant that he had been charged for some fourteen chains of service line across Native property leased by Mr. Moft'att. The writers asked if the {Act did not say that the power must, be put to the consumer’s boundary. They understood that they were only responsible for the cost after the line crossed their boundary. It was their intention to continue Mr. K. H. Taylor’s service line on to the back cow rstfe'cl, which w r ould be another 30 or 40 chains; so the Board would understand that the writers had a fair amount oi pow r er-line expense ahead. The chairman said that the point missed by Messrs Taylor w*as that ii a boundary was too far away from a road the lines would not go to it at all. In this case there v r as a private right-of-way going from the road. Ihe Board was" willing to take the line a chain inside that, as was customary, but it could not go any further. . 1 the applicants in this case had raisci the question before, they would ha\e found that the Board'could not have supplied them. The cow-shed at th, uack was. a long umy off and Messr. Taylor rvould be involved in a heave Expense; but he was unablo to follow .ic contention that the Board had t: '.-.lio the line to the boundary. Tn ,as rather an exceptional case, he admitted. The line went oyer Native and, but it followed the right-of-way hat’ Messrs Taylor were using. He ,ras afraid that the Board could not do

invtliin'T but adhere to its original u-raugement to take the line one chain inside the road. If the principle was *roken down now, it would lead to no end of trouble in the future. It was resolved to reply on the lines of the chairman's statement.

Annual Conferences. Intimations were received of forthcoming conferences —that of the Power Boards, to be held some time in July; the Engineer’s Branch, on May 2.lst and succeeding days; and the Secretaries’'Branch, on May 23rd. Mr. Smith and Mr. Goldsmith were authorised to attend the engineers’ and the Secretaries’ conferences respec- 1 In connection with the Power Boards ’ conference, it was notified that remits should be in by May 20th, so that they might be considered by the executive. The appointment of the Board’s representative was held over until after the election. Eecord payment for Supply. The treasurer reported that the account from Mangahao for power sup-’ plied to the Board during the quarter ended March 31st, £4788 11s 7d, to be passed by this meeting, was the highest so far received. The second highest account was for the December quarter of 1927, when it was only a little short of the above figure. £SOOO Debenture Loan. With reference to the raising of the

£SOOO loan by way of’in exchange of debentures with the Central Electric Power Board, Hamilton, the treasurer reported that the matter was progressing. He had sent to the secretary of that Board copies of the debentures and coupons which it was proposed to print and offer in exchange for the Central debentures, and the secretary! had replied approving them. It was proposed to make exchange payable by ihq Board in each-case if presentation ■vas made to the Bank of New Zealand at other places than Levin and Hamilton. i A resolution was ,wsel authorising lie issue of tnc .iebentures; also a resolution establishing as sinking fund and appointing the Public Trustee the commissioner. Engineer’s Report. / The engineer reported as follows for the period since the last meeting of tlie Board: — “Nine new sfcrvice lines have been erected and extensions made to four existing services. Forty-two poles were carted out, fitted and erected, and 297 chains of wire ruii out. One putdoor sub-station has been built, and one 11,000-volt line switch installed. “The e.h.t. extension on Muhunoa East Road, has been completed, and was put into service as from March and the necessary alterations to the l.t. lines on this road completed. The extension of l.t. on Mako Mako Road West has been commenced, and this section will be completed this week. Short extensions of l.t. were made at Manakau and Kawiu Road West.

“A set of defective lightning arrestors on the Foxton main sub-station, was changed, and the ironwork on this 'sub. was scraped and painted. A dam’’aged line switch at Moutoa was changed, and several transformers re- . 'conditioned. , < < Fifteen single phase and two polyphase meters have been tested, and two polyphase repaired and re-tested. ’ * The report was adopted.