PETONE GASWORKS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 842, 14 June 1910, Page 3

PETONE GASWORKS.

A YEAR'S WORKING. SUGGESTIONS BY THE ENGINEER. At the meeting of the» Petone Borough , Council last night, the Mayor '(Mr. J. W. M'Ewan) submitted a report by the engineer on tho proposal to get direct shipments of coal to Pctone wharf. It was the officer's opinion that nothing was to be gained by the adoption of such a course. Shipowners, he reported, asked for 2s. to 3s. per ton more for going to Petouo wharf 'than they would bo prepared to take when coal was landed at Wellington wharves. A 2000-ton steamer could land coal at Wellington for os. per ton, but if. an additional 2s. per ton had to be paid for landing at Petone, they would not gain more than sixpence per ton at the outside by comparison with the present system. . A difficulty would arise also in getting rid of a large quantity of coal from the wharf, at Petone, as it was. doubtful if tile large number of carts required to ensure expedition would bo found available. If the idea was .to be given, effect to at ail, it would hav'o to ae along the lines recently suggested, that was, the provision of rails on the wharf, and the running of trucks direct therefrom to the gasworks. It would also be necessary that the coal should be delivered at tho wharf by steamers of at least 2000 tons burden. Councillor Southgate: "Halley's comet will be here again before then. (Laughter.) At a later, stage' the Mayor read a lengthy report from' the engineer upon the year's operations at the gasworks. This showed 2473 tons of coal bad been received, the cost being .61839 10s. i Bd. Trimming into .bunkers cost 4.12 pence per ton, and cartage just over Is. per ton. Five years ago cartage used to cost from Is. 9d. to 2s. per ton. Tho total quantity of gas made was 25,000,800 cubic feet. "The average make per ton was 11,405 cubic feet, the largest make in any twenty-four hours being 92,800 cubic feet. It was estimated that 1470 tons of coke had been produced, of which (635 tons had been" sold, • this including 2511 bags. The. stock of tar at the beginning of tho year was 5525 'gallons,..' and the year's make bad totalled '21,535 gallons. Soventy-four 'new services had been laid, and in addition 7D other services had been attended to for cookers,/lamps, and renewals. The engineer drew special attention to the high day pressure that now had to be maintained, duo to the low gas-carrying capacity of certain mains. Some 200 services would require to be renewed either in whole or in part, besides, which it was probable that another 100 would have to receive very careful attention. The - public lamp • services had nearly all beeu renewed during the past eighteen months. :Th« number of heaters in use had increased'by 32 during the year, and now 167. The public lamps had been increased from 8i to 100. Under the heading of new plant and works, the Kjigiwer: •mentioned , that in 1906 the liabilities' were greater, than the assets, and detailed the steps taken to overcome the difficulty. Since then no new loans had been asked for, all extensions having been, paid for out of Tevenue, and, on. nno occasion, by the use.of an. overdraft. ,By these means the old position had been revived, and now there was an excess of.assets,of .£7250. The total expenditure during the five years had been JEGI9O 9s. sd.i an average of JE1239 17s: -lid. . per ; annum. To this had to-be added the outlay, on cookers, making a total of ,£6281, all of which had been found from revenue- , The sales had totalled 19,887,600 cubic feet, of which 11,579,200 cubic feet were used in Petone. Public lighting- had accounted for 1.571,900 cubic feet, or 6.27 per cent of. the total make, and at the works 252,900 cubic feet Jiad been used. The quantity of gas unaccounted'for was 3,366,700 cubic feet, or 13 per cent, of the total, a'very' large proportion which, if continued, must, very seriously 'hamper the whole works. It was suicidal,/said, the engineer, to pour coal into.one end only, to, let it leak out at the other end. The loss was due to the presence of the many long lengths of black pipe .laid years ago in' sandy soil, which had now become corroded and-must, be-replaced,: The consumption . for motive, power was nearly half a million cubic feet less than in the year before. The. report, concluded by drawing attention to many other items which the engineer considered should receive early attention. Included in tho list was the provision of covered storage for at least 300 tons of coal.. Copies of the report are to be supplied to the members of the council for perusal at their leisure. '