NEW GAS-HOLDER

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 270, 20 August 1925, Page 7

NEW GAS-HOLDER

CONSTRUCTION AT MIRAMAR GROWTH OF COMPANY’S OPERATIONS Sir Harold Beauchamp, chairman of the Wellington Gas Company, on Monday drove the first rivet in a new gas-| holder which is in course of erection at the Miramar works. Among those present were Dr. Prendergast Knight and Mr. A. Warburton (directors). Messrs. Kennedy, (general manager), Hungerford (engineer), • and a large! number of employees of the company. I After the ceremony Sir Harold Beau-( champ spoke of the history of the un-i dertaking. The company was founded, he said, in December, 1869, with a capi-| tai of £10,000; to-day its capital was £563,000. Gas was first supplied to con-| sumers on April 22, 1871, and the firsti gasholder had a capacity of 15,000 cubic feet. It was supplied by Laidlaw and! Son, Glasgow. Then followed other holders, by the same firm, in this or-der^-20,000ft., 1873; 45,000 ft., 1876;. 180,000 ft., 1878; 400,000 ft., 1888; and thej sixth holder, supplied by Claytons, of Leeds, was erected in 1909, and held 1,500,000 ft. The contractors for the present holder were lhe well-known firm of R. and J. Dempsey, Ltd., Manchester, England. Mr. C. H. Garside, and his assistant, Mr. D. L. Fotheringham, had charge of the erection of. the holder, under the company’s engineer, Mr. John Hungerford. The holder would be the seventh erected by the company and would have a capacity of 2,000,000 cubic feet. It would be of the spiralguided design, without columns. The first section of the work was the concrete floor, the next the building of a huge circular tank which would contain 3,800,000 gallons of. water, and its weight would be 17,000 tons. The height of the holder when full would be 150 ft., and the weight of steel over 900 tons. As showing the progress of the company, Sir Harold Beauchamp said that the make of gas in millions of cubic feet was: In 1875, 14; in 1885, 68; 1895, 92; 1905, 209; 1915, 396; 1925, 600. “You will be pleased to know,” Sir Harold Beauchamp proceeded, “that the board has under consideration a superannuation scheme for the whole of the employees. A committee has been set up to advise the board on this matter, and it is expected that the scheme will soon be in operation. It is a pleasure to know that the relations with our employees are of a very satisfactory character, therefore I am sorry Mr. Glover is not with us to-day, for he has been assisting us in the formulation of this superannuation scheme.” In addition to the erection of the gas-holder, the chairman said, the company had also under way the extension of the Glover West vertical retorts. The materials for this work were expected to be shipped next month, and on arrival the erection would be proceeded with at once. A contract had also been placed for the erection of new offices in Courtenay P'fece, and this work was already in hand. There were also several extensions of gas mains to be carried out. The cost of the extensions mentioned would • be in the vicinity of £lOO,OOO. He mentioned that since Mr. Kennedy became general manager of the company —some four, years ago—there had been an increase in gas consumption in Wellington of 83,000,000 feet. Mr. Garside, erecting engineer, then presented Sir Harold Beauchamp with a gold matchbox in case to mark the occasion. It was inscribed: “Sir Harold Beauchamp from R. and J. Dempster, first rivet, new holder, Miramar, August 17, 1925.”