The Daily News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19. MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC LIGHTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 19 October 1907, Page 2

The Daily News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19. MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC LIGHTING.

There is every indication vli.it the New Plymouth electric.* lighting scheme will turn out a projitable investment for the borough. According -to a statement made at the hist meeting of the Council by the chairman of the committor who lias charge of this important department, the earnings during the past: six months have been fairly substantial. The net turnover was Cl2i:i 2s :Jd. The cost of working was estimated at the beginning of the financial year to run into C2O0I). so the profit made for the six months is roughly .1213. Excluding from tlie-e earnings the amount of ,C.W lis Sd received from the public lighting of the streets, Town Hall, and the Poat Olliee cloek, we lind that .CtiOj 10s 7d came from the supply of private lighting and power, made up as follows: Private

inij; in Xew Plymouth ,U7(it! lis !)i Vogcltown ,C:.B Us, Moturoa line .CI i."}• id, ami sale of power CI!) IDs. 0 course in the winter a greater turnove may lie expected than in tlie sumnici Already tlie private lighting returns ar -howing a falling-oil as the days length en, but this will, it is hoped, lie lnor than counterbalanced by the increase number of consumers. There are a present in hand many applications fo the supply of electricity for lightin; private houses in the borough, and th suburbs are also expected to consuni.' a increased quantity almost immediately In the town circuits it is worth notin; that the hospital has ju-t been connect ed, and that institution should not onl, make a considerable drain on the em rent, but contribute in no small propor } tion to the revenue. Another local ef tablisliment, which promises to be. large consumer, is about to be linked u \ to the electric lighting system, and thes earnings will go far to compensate fo the inevitable loss of revenue with th. approach of summer. Outside the hoi ougli there is the Vngeltown extcnsioi In the next half-year there will be place to the credit of this section C 22 IS from street-lighting under agreemen with the local bodies interested. In ad (litioil. a canvass lias resulted in a goodl, increase of private connections ill tha locality just recently. On the other ex tension considerable augmentation o consumption and revenue should be ex perienced. Xot only should there ho ; natural growth of business from privat sources, but the harbor lighting mus be reckoned. The revenue derivable fron the Harbor Board is .€1111) per allium and of this only two months' earning are included in the revenue of the pas half-year. Thus, from the harbor alon in tlie ensuing lialf-vearly period the ill come should be more than the whol amount of .€4!) 15s 2d derived from thi section from April to September last Under the heading of ''power" we fun that the system brought in approximate ly £SO. This item is not as mutabl as the lighting, for the machinery mus run in the summer as in tlie wintei "Power" should give a steady averag return of a little over £8 a month th whole year through, reckoning th meters now installed. , But the energ; required under this heading is about t be increased by the setting-up of tw new motors iii the town. A slight ir crease is probable in the street-lightin. revenue, for ratepayers are continuall, asking for the erection of new lights i: various parts of the town. According t a scheme mentioned some months ag at the Council table, the borough i likely soon to be a large consumer o electrical energy. A motor of from 1 to 20 horse-power will be required fo the new chilling-room at the abattoii: and it is proposed to erect machiner; fcr the purpose of driving the stone crushing and a stone-hauling plant a the AVaiwakaiho. Probably during th next half-year the new library building will have to be wired, and as it is in tended to have all the rooms thorough!; lighted a considerable revenue will 1) derived therefrom. Altogether Jli Browne seems to have every reason t< estimate a half-year s revenue ot abou .-CI2IK) up to the end of March. It l satisfactory to note that the chairmai is keeping a close supervision of the ex penditure of moneys in this department For tho YogpUown extension <I4UO \va authorised. The work is nearly com plete. and the cost is as yetonly .13.! ?>s 3d —well within the estimate. O the Moturoa line, again, CW)O was votcc and the expenditure to date is i-® 1 ■>d including the cost to tli erection of the high-tension wire nov nrocceding. The electric light depait incnt is now considered to be on a comnierciallv successful basis, and it i» to be hoped that it will always be conducted on sound commercial lines.