HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

Shannon News, 31 December 1929, Page 4

HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

* MEETING OP HOROWHENTJA POWER EOABB. Tlie 'monthly meeting of the Horowh'enua Electric Power Board was held in the Board room, Levin/ ofl Tuesday, ■:' there being present: Messrs G. .A. Monk- (chairman), W. E. Barber, T. G. '" Vincent, R. Bryant, E. s:. Morse, A. E. * Hyde, C. Blenkhdrn, W. J. .PethencK and A. Seifert, Mr.''P. W." Goldsmith (secretary and treasurer) and Mt. J. A. ." -.. Smith (engineer). Insurance Bates. ■ ' ' ' The secretary reported that he, had 'written to the Power• Boards >, Associa- .*" lion pointing'out that. thq 1 -State FirO ( - ' Office—and, he presumed, other insur,- ' ( ance companies—had • increased.- the • previous rate of 45s per cent, for gen- • eraV workmen/ inspectors and mete?'rcadeTs to 60s per cent. - A reduction , k ■ of 25. per-cent., had,been made on-lire , and''motor .vehicle- 'risks, but* the in- , crease, referred .to ' more than * counterbalanced the' concessions. ' Ho,justed that the executive would look into the ■ ." position.) A reply was received from .the' secretary of''the .Association .'(Mr. T. P. Martin) s*t'at'irlg that-the exc&u; -Vtive-committee 'had decided-that, in View of the unsatisfactory attitude of the Underwriters > Association, it would take the necessary steps to obtain Parliamentary authority for running . its* own insurance scheme. . The chairman said he had not been ■ aware that legislation,,, would have to k be sought in this connection; evidently P Mr. Martin had decided that it was necessary. ' On the motion of Mr. Vincent seconded by Mr. Blenkhorn, it was doeid- ■ ed that the Board concur in the action

of the executive. ~• , Book-Keeping Machine. Advice .was, received from Messrs .■•" IraL. and A. C. Berk, Ltd., that .the \ Burroughs book-keeping machine which the Board had decided to instal had been ordered, and it would be delivered in March, as requested.. ,'„ Grey Power Board Debentures. , : Circular matter was forwarded by the Grey Power Board relative to its issue of debentures for*£llß,ooo, bearing interest at 5J per cent, and recom- . mending them as a medium for the investment of any sinking funds that the Board might have in hand. The chairman moved that the com- ■ municatioh be received, and this was carried. ' - , Mr'. Blenkhorn raised the question whether the Horowhenua Board had acted advisedly in appointing the -, ,' Public Trustee its sinking fund com- ';'- ' missioner when securities such as that ."'' offered by the'Grey Board afforded a means of investment. In theso cases, he added, the., question was one of mutual help. / The chairman'-stated that if other ;'. commissioners 'had been appointed, the I cost to the Board would have been k t . • greater. Mr. Blenkhorn remarked that there j were other "Boards in which this Board had confidence, and he mentioned the .' , Central Board, of* Hamilton, as an ex- * ample. Those Boards had loans which j they wanted taken up, and so had this Board. The chairman said that the sinking j

funds must be invested in such a man- ■■ -ner that there was no danger of a loss. JL good many had been invested from ''"' the boom to the slump period in New Zealand that weTe absolutely lost. .',/ Mr. Blcnkhorn: There is Govern1 ~ inent supervision. The chairman: That does not stop . them from being lost if it is something that does not pay its way. ', , Mr. Blcnkhom: The Board acts at

its discretion within the limits laid down by law. The chairman: There will be an opv.' portunity in connection with our next '" ■■ loan to say whether we make the \ '• Public Trustee or another the sinking fund commissioner. I think that with our present sinking funds we could not have done better. The secretary, stated that the Act

provided that the Board could appoint sinking fund commissioner or, lr it so desired, it could v appoint the Public 1 Trustee sole sinking fund commissioner. The Board had availed itself of • l - thq latter alternative. Mr. Blenkhorn: Who is eligible be-

* . sides the Public Trustee? The chairman: "We cannot appoint ' - ourselves. It has to be somebody outside the Board or the staff. Civil Engineers' Conference. The jST.Z. Society of Civil Engineers sent a circular asking the Board to afford facilities for its engineer to attend the annual meeting of the Society, .to be held at Duncdin on February 18th. •It was decided that the engineer '• .have permission to attend the^iconference. Agreement with Department. The Council reported that he had written to the District "Engineer at Shannon with reference to approaching the Public Works Department for a new agreement between the Board and ■■' the Department, rendered necessary by the expiry of the present five-year "i. agreement on March 31st next. Parti- . , culars were requested as to the price of ;> electricity ■to the Board for a. further " r> term, and the secretary addedj in his '' '• letter, that whenever a general reduc■j in the cost was warranted and ■\l' made, the BoaTd would expect its share. <Y'"', Treasurer's Report. |3T \ The' following report for the past jlijoionth was presented by the treasurer fp and was adopted:— (s?'• ' Accounts. the last meeting of the Board |;'i there has been paid away the sum of Jf £3294. This includes the half-yearly P interest on the £BO,OOO (1922) loan llvfrom the A.M.P. Society/Sydney. The ;,'; ; >amount of this half-yearly interest is If 12200 and the rate is 51 per cent* Other |V'.payments made since last meeting inelude wages £319, salaries £292, installs lations £lB9, interest . for Central * -power BoaTd debentures £l3B. On the fe! ,'■ „ f,""<, ■',,._

pay-roll for the day there arc. account* which total £2386 12s 6cl. Of these accounts, those charged to loan amount to £1355, including accounts for copper wire £1143 and meters £l6B. In the accounts chargeable to revenue account, totalling £1032, the chief item is 5800, being yearly sinking fund due in connection with the £BO,OOO loan prevrously mentioned in this report. Receipts for November. The cash receipts for the past month from all sources amounted to £3420 4s sd. Of this sum £2830 4s was _ for electricity, the total for the eight months of the year under this head being £29,591 6s, 9d. The following table relating to cash receipts for November and for the portion of the financial year already passed will be of interest:

£3420 £33864 Shillings and pence omitted. Engineer's Report. The engineer submitted the following report covering the period since the last meeting: — Thirty-four new service lines have been erected, extra phasos run on five existing service lines, and one service extended. Sixty-one poles have been fitted and erected, and 593 chains of wire run out.

The chief items under construction for the period were the completion of the Makerua-Tane Line, the extension of'l.t. on E.H.T. poles to Seifert and Larsen's, Rangitane, extension of l.t. Waimeha Road, Waikanae Beach, and the extension of l.t. on Otaki Gorge Road. Extra phases have been run a + Foxton Beach, and an extension ~6f street lighting wires, and extra lamp erected at this beach. . Poles have been carted out to Raumati beach, and a start made with alterations to lines to cope with the demand for cooking load. It will be necessary to make a short extension to the E.H.T. line towards the northern end of the Beach Settlement, in order to cope with this demand. Satisfactory arrangements are about complete regarding .the Renown Road and Kawitiri extension and preliminary work is being carried out in respect to this line. The temporary sub-station was removed from the Waikawa Stream to Otaki to supply power to the new Otaki Railway Bridge, and a start has been made on this temporary line. Four transformers have been changed to sizes of larger capacity, and the usual maintenance carried out.

Seventy-five single-phase meters have been tested, three repaired and retested, and one range dried out and delivered. s

Workshop.—The usual maintenance to vehicles has been carried out, and one 11,000 volt line switch completed, a number of cross-arms and stays cut, and line material made up. General.—l would ask for authority to purchase, indent from prices submitted,' one mile 19/16 hard-drawn triple-braided copper cable at £75 per mile, f.o.b. Levin. The report was adopted .and authority given for the purchase of copper cable as requested. Christmas Holidays.

A resolution was passed authorising the office to be closed from December 24th to January 4th, inclusive, and wages, salaries and necessary accounts to.be,paid before the Christmas holidays.

Cask Receipts Table. Eight months £ Nov. Interest on installations 1 Miscellaneous 182 29591 215 3297 100 659