" LIKE PICKET FENCE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 42, 20 February 1933, Page 3

" LIKE PICKET FENCE."

ARRAY OF POWER POLES. QUESTION AT BOARD MEETING. "I would like to know the policy of this board concerning poles," said Mr. W. B. Darlow at a meeting of the Waitemata Power Board this morning. He understood that poles on the main line north, carrying a voltage of 11,000, were erected between 90 and 100 yards apart, and that was considered a safe margin. Recently, said Mr. Darlow, he was in one part of the board's district where power was extended for, he considered, political reasons. The district was a "dead end," and yet he saw poles spaced nine or ten yards apart. There must have been at least 300 per cent more poles used than necessary. It was like a picket fence. "Now, Mr. Chairman," said Mr. Darlow, ! "I want to know if there is any person of this board connected with the sale of electric power poles." The Chairman (Mr. W. R. T. Leighton ): I do not know. / Mr. Darlow reiterated that he would like to know the policy of the board. He also thought that the board as a whole should make a tour of the whole of the districts once a year. Mr. S. E. Kennings: Have all our pole extensions been passed by the Public Works Department? If so, is there not a time for reinspection by the Department to ensure safety? The average life of a pole, he- sairt, was ten or twelve years, and they were expected to last that time. Some of the poles in the Waitemata district had lasted nowhere near that number of years. The manager," Mr. A. Main, said it appeared that the poles were not inspected when first put in.