HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

Shannon News, 23 July 1929, Page 2

HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

MEETING- OP HOROWHENUA

POWER BOARD,

The monthly meeting of the Horowhenua Electric Power Board was held in tne Municipal Chambers on Tuesday, •there being present: Messrs G. A. Monk (chairman j, W. E. Barber, T. G. Vincent, E. Bryant, E. S. Morse, G. Hyde, 0. Bienkhorn, and A. J. Petericlt, Mr P. W. Goldsmith (secretary and treasurer) and Mr J. A. Smith (engineer). Leave of absence was granted to Mr A. Seifert.

Information was received from the Power Boards Association relative to the 1029 conference of supply authorities, opening at Parliament Buildings, Wellington, on July 24th. The delegates from this Board are the chairman and Mr Petlierick, together with the secretary and the Engineer. The same Association forwarded a circular letter in reference to the electrical .operators' application for ah award, and stating that the secretary of the Association .would watch the interests of Power Boards.

In answer to questions, the Engineer stated that the workmen chiefly affected were power station . and substation operators and electrical wiremen.

The Electric Supply Authorities' Engineers’ Association sent a copy of their annual report and balance sheet., A feply was received from the Central Power Board, Hamilton, to a request by the secretary for information bearing on insurance. This stated that

the Central Board had placed all their motor vehicle and property insurance with Lloyd's. Their experience, after eighteen months' business with New Zealand agents for that firm, had. been satisfactory, all claims having been met without question. In one case there had been delay owing to the agents being unable to cope with the large amount of business at the time. Any annoyance, however, had been compensated by the distinct saving effected

through the cheaper tariff. ' Examples of increased returns to the Wairarapa Board as the result of a publicity scheme were contained in a communication from the Charles Haines Advertising Agency. On the chairman's motion, the letter was received. BOUNDARY AT BSSUE. Messrs Harper, Atmore and Thomson, k solicitors, Otaki, wrote’ asking for . a copy of the Board’s contract regarding the service line for Mr W. G. Taylor, Otald Railway, who had consulted the firm as to his ability to -pay the amount .claimed by the Board. At the April meeting a letter was received from Messrs Taylor Bros., in which they stated that the Board ha i charged them for a service line from the main road, which meant that they had been, charged for some fourteen chains of service line across Native property leased by Mr Moffatt. They understood that they were only respon sible for the cost after the line crossed their boundary. To that letter the Board replied that it must adhere to its original arrangement to take-the line one chain inside the road.

The. Chairman stated that Messrs Taylor ’ property fronted the main road,' but oue portion was served by a right-of-way over Native land. The Boaf-d - -contended that the ' boundary, for the purposes of the Board, was Ihe road boundary. The line had been taken 60ft' inside that boundary, and the Board had called upon Messrs Taylor Bros, to pay for the balance as a service line. : The connection had been made for some time; the line went down the right-of-way. The question was, which was the boundary the main road or the boundary of the Taylors’ property. The Board could have served them by traversing their property, but it would have taken a very much longer .service line; it was to provide, a shorter service line that it had been taken down the right-of-way. The Secretary’s action in forwarding a copy of the agreement to the solicitors was endorsed. TREASURER’S REPORT. '

The following report was presented by the Treasurer:— Accounts. —The account for electricity for the quarterly period ended June 30th, is the prominent feature of the accounts for the month. This stands at £36226 17s 2d, and Us a considerable advance over the amount for the same quarterly period last year —viz., £663. In 1928, however, there was practically no work done at the fLaxmills, whilst this year a considerable amount has been done and there has been an increase in the load in other directions as well. The June quarterly accounts for the several years are as under:—

Quarter ended June 30, 1925 £1325 Do., 1926 £3lll Do., 1927 £3581 Do., 1928 .. .. ■ • • • £2964 Do., 1929 • £3627 The accounts for confirmation are made up largely of those for wages, salaries, superannuation and telephone rentals. In those accounts submitted to be passed for-.payment, beside the electricity account for the quarter already referred to, there is only one large account- and that is for interest and sink in<r fund on the £IO,OOO loan, from the Public Truste. The half-yearly interest due on August Ist, is £3OO, and the annual sinking fund of £2OO makes the total amount due on that date to be £SOO. . t . Cash Receipts. —The cash receipts for the month amounted in all to £3313 0s 1 d of which £2844 14s 4d was for electricity., The table which follows shows what has been takdn since April Ist, the beginning of the financial year. Total from June, 1929. April 1. Electricity £2844 £10,731. Penalties 31 79 Sundries . 98 -01 Sundry debtors for instsll&tions .. . • 290 981

Interest on installations 8 29

£3313 £12,023 (.Shillings and penpe omitted). Exchange of Debentures.—The transaction with the Central Electric Power Board has been finalised to the extent chat the Board has now in its possession 50 Central Electric Power Board debentures with coupons attached, value each, bearing interest at 5| per cent, and repayable in 1957. The Central Board likewise holds 50 of our debentures of a similar value as above. The Chairman said he learned from the Engineer that, while a larger sum had been paid for power than in corresponding quarters, the units had been consumed, so he presumed that the extra revenue would be derived. The report was,adopted. ’ ELEMENTS FOR RANGES. Mr Hyde stated that he had experi-

enced difficulty in getting range elements outside the centres; .if an element burned out, there was a delay of three weeks or a month before it chulu be replaced. He had been tvaiting six

weeks for one. It was necessary to have a qualified electrician to fit it, and the user had to wait the expert’s convenience. In the meantime the range was criticised, and there was also a loss of revenue to the Board through its non-use. He asked if the Board could lay in a stock of spare parts, so as to make replacements through the medium of its own stafE and without delay. The Engineer stated, in reply, that the Board did supply elements, but on this last occasion there had been a delay in the supply—a think that rarely happened. NEW TRANSFORMERS.

Owing to the extension of the Board’s lines, and the general increase in the load, the Engineer was authorised to purchase the following transformers from Messrs Arthur D. Riley and Co., Ltd., Wellington, at prices quoted by them:—Two of 15 k.v.a., two of 25 k.v.a., and two of 35 k.v.a.