LOCAL GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 289, 19 September 1949, Page 2

LOCAL GENERAL

Demand on State Power

Units supplied' by the State Hydro Electric Department to the Ashburton Power Board during last month totalled 2,519,091. The maximum demand was 5272 kva, between 11.15 and 11.45 a.m. on August 1G and 29, compared with only 472 G kva between 11.15 and 11.45 a.m. on August 26, 1948.

Donation to St. John Ambulance At the football match on Saturday, played at the Ashburton Domain between Burnett’s Motors and .the Ashburton Power Board, a collection was taken which amounted to £3. This sum was donated to the Ashburton branch of the St. John Ambulance Association.

Pigeon-Flying Race Oil Saturday 25 homing pigeons were liberated at Burnham on behalf of the Ashburton United Pigeon Club. When the birds left Ashburton by train there was a heavy fog, and it looked doubtful if they would be home before evening. However, most had completed the journey hack by 11.30 a.m. The next race will be from further afield, Addington being the starting point.

Young Man Found Injured Believed to have been injured in a motor-cycle crash, George Edward Houston, aged about 18, was admitted to the Ashburton Public Hospital on Saturday evening. He was brought to Ashburton by a bus from Methven. Though reported this morning to be making satisfactory progress, the injured man has not, as yet, been able to give any explanation of how the accident occurred.

Lyttelton Seeks Ashburton Aid Acceding to a request from the Lyttelton Borough Council, the Ashburton Electric Power Board to-day consented to the. engineer-secretary (Mr H. G. Kemp) making a report on that body’s electrical reticulation. It was mentioned by the Lyttelton Council that it had no registered engineer and that the State Hydro Electric Department had suggested Mr Kemp as a suitable man to prepare such a report.

Fall of Coal A minor traffic dislocation occurred at* the corner of East and Havelock Streets to-day just as the rush back to work after lunch was in full tide. The cause was the falling of a bag of coal from a delivery lorry, ancl for a time the driver had a busy time retrieving his loss, hardly helped by the number and interest of the many spectators.

Power System Faults Faultmen of the Ashburton Electi ic Power Board attended to 597 calls dining the month, all being of a loutine nature. The radio sets, stated the running-engineer, Mr A. T. Saunders, in a report to the board meeting today, are being used regularly by the faultmen and are saving considerably on car mileage, also proving extremely useful bv cutting down the time that a line is held out of use when repair work is under way.

Recommissioned After remaining in storage at Hobsonville, for about two and a bait years, a Catalina flying-boat left the air base on Friday, to join the Fiji section of No. 5 (flying-boat) Squadron of the R.N.Z.A.F., says a Press Association message. The aircraft m the last three months has been almost completely rebuilt. One of a number of Catalinas laid up at Hobsonville, it had completed only 400 flying hours before it went into storage. Another Catalina is now receiving its major inspection at the station’s big hangai after service with No. 5 Squadron.

Effect of Devalued Pound “What repercussions are likely from the devaluation of the pound?” asked Mr L. A. Charles, at to-day’s meeting of the Ashburton Electric Power Board. The engineer-secretary (Mr I-I. G. Kemp) replied that an order for £4OOO worth of cable was on the way and that, apparently, the cost of this would be increased by about 30 per cent. In effect, it placed the board where it was originally was, in respect of this order, for it was formerly decided to secure the cable front America because of the cheaper price.

Many Motors Installed Easily the highest number of motors for one month, for some years past, was installed by the Ashburton Electric Power Board during last month, the total being 83. These comprised one of 10 h.p. (for a dairy factoiy), one of six (for a petrol station), one of four (for a sawmill), three of three, one of two, and the remainder of below that power. There are now 4681 motors in use. New consumers joined up last month numbered 25 (total now 5657) and 140 meters were added (total now 10,390). Four radio sets linked up carried this total to 2917.

Beautiful Blooms Displayed The display of daffodils at Mr All Clark’s grounds at the week-end was outstandingly beautiful, and was viewed by a large attendance of the public, particularly yesterday, when visitors were present from Methven, Christchurch and Oxford. Mr Clark s daffodils were supplemented by exhibits shown by members of the Ashburton Horticultural Society, and while all the flowers shown- were of excellent quality and included a wonderful array of polvanthus blooms, the outstanding attraction was the selection of pink daffodils.

Power Board Revenue ThQUgh there was a decline of £453 under the heading of power, Ashburton Electric Power Board revenue last month showed an over-all increase of £747. Domestic revenue increased by £IOOB (to £7214), commercial by £lB3 (to £1562), and sundries by £S (to £141), while power fell, away by £453 (to £476). For the five months ended on August 31, with 194 S returns in parentheses, the totals were:—Domestic £29,001 (£24,835), commercial £7129 (£5921), power £6850 (£6557), public lighting £527 (£507), and sundries £703 (£665) —total £44,210 (£38,486), an increase of £5726.

Air Force Day Auckland’s two Royal New Zealand Air Force stations on the upper harbour at Whenuapai and Hobsonville were hosts on Saturday afternoon to nearly 10,000 visitors by ferry launches, buses and private cars. The public travelled considerable distances to isolated stations, a testimony to the appeal to the imagination of Ail Joice Day and of the Service itself. For several hours the sky above both stations was patterned with aircraft flying in manoeuvres and sometimes catching the breath with an apparent fantastic disregard of the theory of flight and the law of gravity.—P.A,