SERIOUS POWER HOLD-UP

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 937, 2 April 1930, Page 11

SERIOUS POWER HOLD-UP

SHORTAGE IN NEW PLYMOUTH LIGHTS AND TRAMS CHECKED j From Our Oven Correspondent NEW PLYMOUTH, Today. With no prospect of rain in the New Plymouth district it appears likely that the shortage of electric power which has been affecting the town for some weeks will become more acute in the next few days. All street lights as well as the community shop lighting system have been off since Saturday night and the tram service is running at a minimum. In addition to all this the river at the intake has fallen another inch and thesubsidiary power supply from Tariki has been cut off since Friday. On Monday the trams ceased running between 11 o'clock and midday and for the rest of the day only two cars were running. ’ Again between seven and 10 o'clock in the evening the service was suspended and borough and private buses are attempting to cope with the traffic. As the power supply during the day has fallen below the demand the current has to be switched off at intervals for 10 or 15 minutes to allow generators to pick up. These checks are causing great inconvenience to factories and workshops using electric power. The broadcasting station 2YB for the last few evenings has had barely sufficient power to keep the transmitting valves oscillating and on Monday it was decided to close the station down until a regular power supply was assured.