ELECTRIC LIGHT LOAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81835, 30 August 1906, Page 2

ELECTRIC LIGHT LOAN.

APPROVED BY THE BOROUGH COUNCIL. £IO,OOO REQUIRED. At the adjourned meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council oh Wednesday, Cr BrcoMng, chairman of the Electric Lighting Committee, unved the. adoption of the committee's' report, the most important clause of which was as follows: "That in viow of the fact that the Committee are within measurable distanca of a full load on the present plant, steps be taken to raise a loin to pay off tie existing overdraft' on electric lighting account, and to provide a further sum of £5,000 to be expended as follows: Rxtcnsion electric lighting plarfc £2,000 i new line, £I,OOO ; extension to Breakwater aud Vogeltown, £I,OOO ; contingencies £1,000; total, £5,000." The Town Clerk laid on the (able- a. sfatoment showing the total amonnfc borrowed for electric lighting was £9,000, and £2,400 had been trans. r erred from the waterworks account as proportion of the cost of the intake tunnel, a total of £l»,00l). Tim amount expended to date was shown at £11,768 15s 8d j amount advanced by general account,'£2,B72 19s 6d; liabilities, £2,395 18s 2d j giving the total cost of tho- electric light installation as £17,037 13s 4d. The account thus showed a deficit of £5,037, ex. ?lus:ve of the £5,000 loan now recoramended for extensions. Speaking to the motion, Cr. Brooking gave some interesting particulars of the present state of the mnnioipat electrical installation. It is new, in, the lighting committee's opinion, timeto consider the extension of the plant in order to supply th.c greater load! likely to be required very shortly. Forthis purpose it is necessary to put in the installation, for which the pawor house is intended—the new one to l-e a 90-kilowat plant, equal to tbe two 45's now in use—at a cost of £2,<;00 for watermains, extension, of the power-house, turbine, generator and switchboard (tho actual cost, is csliir.aW at £1960). Provision was, made in the report for extending the syslrm to the suburbs, for which the Council would doubtless obtain the necessary authority, although tho solicitor reported the work could not bo legally undertaken now. The cost of tho eleotrioal installation to-date, was about £17,000, and for ano&er; £3,000 the output could be doubled Answering Cr. Hutchen,, Cr. Brook ing said that tie govorn,o» and bear, ings on the tarbm.es, were still work, ing unsatisfactorily, and the final pay* ment to tho contractor was .IwJds deferred until tho engineer would certify to these being in order.

Cr Bellnnger was informed that there were no other features of the system objected to. The arc lights wera cheaper than tltose provided ia the specifications, but had been aoeep. ted by the Connoil on the consulting engineer's advieq.

Councillars complained of the unsatisfactory state oi the are lamps, and the engineer stated a record had kept of the time spent by tho staff-in, attending to the lamps during the three, mouths' maintenance of the contract.. Members urged that tho contractor* should be compelled to pay for this. IVfr Black (engineor) said he had objected at the outset to these,arc lights. Cr Alonteath summed up the position briefly. Mr Mostayer had told ths Council he knew little of eleotr' eljybut if the lighting and power, scheme-' were entrusted to him, they would got the best available talent \ unfortunately for the Council, % « best aTaiuu £ talent wa? the- ccatraotor. Cr. «ell»toger: Well, then I take it that any fault in the electrical system can be laid, at Mr Mestayer's door. Seconding the loan proposals] Cr Browno said the present plant was earning at the rate of £IOBO a year and tho expenditure of another £300:)' would put them in a position to, more than duplicato this revenues This should enable the Council to sell the at fourpence instead of sixpence a unit.

It was suggested the consumption, and consequently the amount paid by consumers, would ease 'off in summer. That was the experience with gas. Cr Webster: I don't know about that, The gas bills are very erratic (laughter).

Th.9 Mayor recommended tint a report be obtained ou the amount of [water power likely to remain after providing for the extra lighting Cr Brooking said that tho present power eould bo tripled by constructing a 3-feet dam across the Waiwakaiho. That was Mr Mestayer's opinion. Cr Monteath supported tbo sugges. tion to obtain a report.

1 Cr. Hutchen drew attention, to tho probable increased power, Cr Brooking, in, \k reply rc grettmg the Council had prevented' Mr Black Imdcntivift motors for sale to. intending co.usum.ors. Several goodl oustomors had been loji by that action.

Or Colli* said that if the wacero were las he would certainly spend this, money in increasing the earning power The report was unanimously a'dopte-1* anl steps wj,U be, taken to take the matter before the ratepayers. '