THOSE RADIATORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 147, 22 June 1923, Page 4

THOSE RADIATORS.

CAN THEY BE RE-INSTATED?

A SUGGESTED COMPROMISE

(By -MERCATOR.)

Radiators have disappeared. Cou-hs colds and sneezes have taken their place There may be. no direct connection between the two event*, but the majority of those who are deprived o! their radiators will certainly maintain that there is the very closest connee tion, and that they are none other than cause and effect. It is bad enough to have no radiators when it is warm and wet, like it was last week, when thousands of people sat all day in damp clothing. It is even worse to be chilled to the .bone on the few fine and cold days that have occasionally broken the long spoil of recent wintry weather. But the conditions become almost unbearable when the rain and the cold come on the same day, as they did yesterday. YV;tn damp feet obtained during even a"short walk to a tramcar; with damp clothing resulting from the intermittent showers that caught most people on their way to town; thousands shivered all day, ivhile 'incipient colds gradually made themselves felt, and barking coughs disturbed what should have been a good night's rest. To-day the whole city is coughing and sneezing, the conditions being per" feet for the reception of influenza or similar complaints. The great question is how the present position can be remedied. It is no use upbraiding the Power Board. In their optimism they may have accepted more engagements than they can possibly fill, but blaming them will not light the fire in the radiator, and that is what the people wanted this morning. The Power Board cannot get 15 horse-power out of a 10 horse-power engine, nor can they meet all the demands for power, which increase all afternoon till five o'clock, when the tram traffic reaches its maximum, before the factories cease to draw upon the electric fluid, thousands upon thousands of electric lights being turned on in the meantime in factories, offices, shops and private residences. The public do not need to be experts to realise that an enormous margin of power would be required to meet eve.'y demand between 4 and 5 o'clock at his time of the year, when artificial lighting has. to be adopted before the factories close. But they have not vet been convinced that everything has been done that could»be done to provide electric heating during the earlier hours of the day, before lighting is necessary to any extent, and before the tram traffic reaches its maximum. The public, fully appreciate the able report submitted by the acting-chairman of the Power Board, Mr. S. J. Harbiitt, and sympathise with him in his lucid explanation of the great difficulties under which the ioard is now working, having special regard to f heir natural reluctance toincur heavy additional capital expenditure when ~ they 'have' Arapuni power '-ultimately in view. But the board do not appear to have sufficiently exploited the possibility of supplying radiator power during the earlier hours of the day, and in this appears to lie the immediate solution of the distressing conditions- now being suffered in all those buildings that are not equipped with gas or other heating appliance. The layman's view would be that 'if the board can meet-all the calls that are made on its power from- three to five o'clock, then there must be an enormous amount of power, or potential power, going to waste before three o'clock every day. for the electricity is not' stored up, but used as fast as it is generated.

Only experts could determine whether the plant that can safely be worked at its .maximum, from 3 to 5 cou 'd with equal safety be kept up to that maximum for a. longer number of hour;, but so faf we have bad no authoritative statement of the. impossibility of providing a larger output of power during the morning, far away in excess of what would be drawn upon by all the radiators in the city. In this appears to lie the immediate "solution of the difficulty. Let the' board allow the full and unrestricted use of all radiators from early morning till 1 or 2 o'clock, according to the advice of their experts as to the capacity of the plant, and'the whole city would again be satisfied. Every consumer would readily comply with any reasonable condition laid down, and would loyally abide by the absolute restriction after the hoiir nominated by the board. A recent visitor to Auckland was not very complimentary to the inhabitants of our city, but lie * spoke in sheer ignorance. Mr. Harbutt knows better. He has lived amongst us all bis life, and he knows that the city is a law-abiding community, imbued with a strong sense of civic pride. Let the board lay all their cards on the table, take the 'citizens into their confidence, put the exact position before them, lay down their conditions, to he absolutely complied with, in letter and in spirit, and the public would respond to a man. There is not. a single person in the whole city who would abuse the confidence of the board it it is clearly laid down that any abuse of that confidence would imperil the whole scheme. The Power Board should lose no time in examining in all its aspects this practical solution of the present difficulty.