A LONG HARD WINTER? Coal, wood and gas sought; electricity out of favour

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33464, 20 February 1974, Page 1

A LONG HARD WINTER? Coal, wood and gas sought; electricity out of favour

Christchurch is preparing for winter: a long, hard winter of power cuts and restricted supplies of heating oils — a fire-in-the-grate winter.

Months before their usual “season,” chimney sweeps are already booked for weeks ahead. Coal and firewood merchants have a waiting list of orders.

The Christchurch Gas Company is trying to get more trained staff’ to cope with a sudden and unparalleled flood of applications for new connections. And long-disused coal ranges are heing readied for emergency senice.

“It's gone mad. We’ve been flat stick since the end of the Games and we shouldn’t have started until the end of March or into April,” said a spokesman for one chimney sweeping firm. "In some areas we’re fully booked for three weeks in advance. In others it isn’t as bad.”

“Booming with business,” was the comment from another firm, and a third reported orders for four weeks ahead. “We wouldn’t have been so far behind but three times in the last fortnight we have gone to sweep a chimney and ended up rejuvenating old coal ranges as well.”

Another sweep has twice so far been called to clean chimneys which, until his arrival, had been fitted with electric heaters in the fireplace. “It certainly seems that heaters are out and open fires are in." he said. But not all heaters. For the Christchurch Gas Company there has been a tremendous upsurge tn demand for gas heating.

“The demand has been so great it will take several weeks to get round to them all.” said the general manager of the company (Mr E. F. Gorman).

"The staff is flat out, but we will get to everyone in tum. Even when we have determined just what their requirement is, however, there will be still some delay before we can get round to the installations.

"There is no particular trend. The public is after domestic gas fittings of all types — cookers, house heating. and water heating — with perhaps just a slight edge to house heating.” he said.

"We are seeking to add tc our staff to accommodate these applications as quickly as possible; and, of course, it is still the holiday period for many — which doesn’t make it any simpler.” Mr Gorman said there had been some initial difficulty in maintaining the supply of appliances in the face of the rapid increase in demand, but the company now had a “fair stock” on hand and was expecting delivery of a further shipment from overseas soon.

As well as checking and repairing existing connections, gas servicemen were having to install completely new systems to some houses. “Most of the applications are to restore supply through existing systems which haven’t been used for some years; but a great many, perhaps surprisingly, are from entirely new consumers.” said Mr Gorman.

The company is also experiencing a very heavy run on its coke supplies. One greenhouse grower who had a large complex of greenhouses and who had changed from a coke-fired heating plant to an oil-fired one some years ago was changing back to coke, Mr Gorman said.

None of the firms dealing in oil-fired heating plants surveyed yesterday acknowledged any drop in orders compared with this time last year. One, however, did say there had been a definite increase in orders from large firms wanting more storage tanks. Coal and firewood merchants were unanimous and unshakeable in their opinion that there was no immediate

likelihood of shortages. “The only way there’ll be one is if you fellows in the newspapers create it.” said one.

All reported an unusually heavy demand for this time of year and there were some delays in delivery. “But the delays are not from shortages in supply but in labour,” said the branch manager of the State Coal Depot in Christchurch (Mr S. Armstrong). The delays are now of about four weeks for almost all firms which deliver firing.

Several of the smaller firms, however, will not be dealing in slab wood this winter as they have done in previous years.

“There just isn’t as much of it around,” said the man-

ager-yardman-driver of a three-man business. He was the only one prepared to hazard a guess, anonymously, as to the reason. “It might be the chip mills,” he said. “Or, of course, it might be that there just isn’t as much of it around anyway.”

Wood prices Whatever the reason, prices being asked in newspaper advertisements for firewood this year have shown a dramatic increase on those at the same time last year.

The going rate for a bag of slab wood, for instance, has risen from between 40c and 50c last February to the current span of 50c to 75c. A “truck load,” which is usually rated at two cords, went for $l4 to $l7 for clean, Bin pine slabs (dry) and as little as $ll green. Rates asked so far this year for dry wood have started at $25 a truck load.