ILAM SMOKE STACK

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28950, 18 July 1959, Page 4

ILAM SMOKE STACK

Resident Sees Anomaly

“What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” said a resident of the Ham district yesterday. He was referring to the Government’s approval of gas heating for the new Government departmental building in Bowen street, Wellington, while still insisting on coal-fired boilers for the new university at Ricearton. The resident quoted from the June issue of “New Zealand Engineering,” the journal of the New Zealand Institution of Engineers, which reports discussions at the annual conference. Mr R. N. Kerr, who was responsible for designing heating and ventilation services for the new Government building, is reported as saying: * “It was Government. policy to use indigenous fuels for heating in Government buildings. Coal was not very - suitable for beating m policy and the saving in labour and capital cost of plant, it was not considered out of order to pay the higher fuel costs for gas. The annual cost of gas for the departmental'building and the adjoining Broadcasting House may be as high as £Bl5O. The comparative cost of light oil would be £3500 and heavy oil £2OOO. In this case oil was to be used only for standby purposes.” Later in the discussion, the journal says: “Mr F. M. H. Hanson (Commissioner of Works) pointed out that Mr Kerr had not always been a free agent on choosing equipment. Although it was Government policy to do certain things, the Government did take into consideration Mr Kerr’s advice in formulating that policy.” “Ipcensed” The Ilam resident said he was incensed to find the Government forcing the use of coal (whether it was economic or not), deciding that it should not be used in a built-up area adjacent to Parliament building, and yet insisting on coal-fired boilers at Ham, a residential area, with hundreds of new homes and young families. “In Christchurch we have the anomaly of one Government department (health) concerned about air pollution from coal fires while the Minister of Works and Electricity is forcing on Christchurch the use of coal at Ilam,” the resident said. “A further anomaly exists In that the people of Christchurch are using less and less coal In their homes and more and more electricity and thus tending to reduce the air pollution which causes the death-dealing ’smog.’ Yet, the Government is demanding the use of this outmoded form of heating fuel,” the resident said. “Coal used in open-circuit systems, such as coal-fired boilers, has a certain amount of heat energy extracted from it and the residual products are dropped through the grate And sent up the chimney to form the nucleus of smog particles. When coal is used in a closed-circuit system, such' as a gas works, no residual products are discharged. “Our various transport systems have, in the main, dropped coal as a fuel; coal plays a very small part in our modern houses; yet the present Government insists that coal be used in those buildings over which it has some control. When the case of the Cashmere Hospital was put before the National Government (which was in power then) the Government was finally convinced that it was not in the best interests of Christchurch to insist on coal fuel. The present Government has taken a more dictatorial attitude. We, the people of Christchurch, are to use coal to heat the Ilam university or not to have a new university When it comes to a building near Parliament they are not so adamant that coal is a good clean fuel and use an alternative.” said the resident.

Cathedral Preservation.—The' Dominion Federation of New Zealand Country Women’s Institutes decided at its annual general meeting at Timaru to support the National Historic Place? Trust in its efforts to pre-! serve St. Paul’s Cathedral. Wei- 1 lington, as a place of national' interest I