FARMERS AND ELECTRICITY

Shannon News, 19 July 1929, Page 1

FARMERS AND ELECTRICITY

QUESTION OF A CANVASS DISCUSSED BY POWER BOARD.

REPORT ON PRESENT POSITION TO BE OBTAINED.

I The question was asked by Mr Tl G. Vincent, at the meeting of ttie Horowhemia Power Board on Tuesday, whether the time had arrived when the Board should endeavour to obtain more consumers. There were only 424 milking motors in its district, and that number included the separating motors. The Board's lines -must be adjacent to very many more sheds that could be linked up with the supply. Seeing thait Waikaremoana power wfas now available, he thought that the time would be opportune to get out and see possible customers. If these could be connected, it would perhaps provide a little more employment. The Chairman said he noticed from the Engineer's report that seven milking and separating motors were put on during the. past month, while in the extensions there were one milking motor and one water-heater. It had been the intention of the Board, as soon as

plenty of power was available, to have a campaign both for motors for dairying and for ranges. The Board had to consider whether applications were coming in fast enough. It had a certain staff and was able to cope nicely with the additional work as it came in, without having to increase the staff. It appeared necessary to carry on with a certain staff in order to give service. Tlie question was whether it would be wise to rush, the business and perhaps keep additional men not fully employed. The other side of the question was the mains were built and were paying interest, and the greater the load that could be put on them the better; that was sound. »'Mr W. E. Barber said it would be interesting to know how many farmers were within reach of the lines who were not already users cf the current. The Chairman: That information could be got. One or two people have approached me' with the idea that we should eut out the guarantee. .We cannot afford to do that yet; where we have a capital expenditure of any extent, it will .be necessary in the case of some dairies, and we have got to keep that. The original canvass that was made when the Board was first formed showed, I think, about five hundred dairy farms or sheds in the whole

district. That has increased in the last six or seven years by a good deal. Some of those were not available because they could not be reached. That condition still exists to a large extent, but not to the same extent. We have to take into consideration that a lot

of new dairies have started in the las

four or five years, while a few have closed down. Some have long service lines. As long as they are coming on at the rate we see them here each month, we can go on as at present. Mr Vincent: Will that range be, continuous over the twelve months'? The Chairman: It has been over the past twelve months. The Engineer: It is very steady..

Mr Vincent: It is only a question of increasing our consumption. If we can do that without adding a great deal to our capital expenditure, we can decrease our charges and get more business. I would like something to be done to find out how many are avail-

able and why they have not linked up as far as possible. In some cases the distance is such that.it would cost a man' up to £IOO to get the power to his shed.

The Chairman: I would suggest that the staff check oVer the plotting that ivi! have on our present plan and fin:l cut the increases. The Engineer stated that the power ;vas being applied for on behalf o< :iiiie sheds at present, apart from those on the Makerua-Tane line. Applications were coming in all the time. The Chairman: Once they were replotted on the map, we would know. The Engineer undertook to prepare a report on the lines suggested by the Chairman.