NEW PLANT

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 36, 12 February 1936, Page 19

NEW PLANT

PETONE GAS WORKS

CHAMBER OVENS SYSTEM

•TENDERS TO BE GALLED

After a great deal of discussion spread over several meetings, the Petone .and Lower Hutt Gas Lighting Board decided last evening to replace the present horizontal retorts with a modern system of chamber ovens. The board will call for tenders, which will close three months after an advertisement has been inserted in the local papers. It was stated during the discussion that the Loans Board would have to be approached for approval to raise a loan. The secretary (Mr. O. Silbery) who, with the works manager (Mr. C. Shaw), attended the conference of the Gas Institute at Christchurch, read a paper by Mr. F. W. J. Belton, manager of the Christchurch Gas Company, on types of plant he inspected during his recent visit to Great Britain. The chairman (Mr. W. G. Loder) said that Mr. Shaw, In his report, stated that Mr. Belton had told him that the board could make no mistake in installing chamber ovens. He could say that quite definitely. "I do not think Mr. Belton's paper adds much tOs what we know," said Mr. E. T. E. Hogg. "It does not get ut very far on the road," added Mr. C. J. Ashton. Mr. D. W. Campbell said he thought that the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, when Prime Minister, had sent someone from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to Britain to report on chamber ovens. He did not know if the report had ever been received. The chairman said he did not know either, and in any case quite adequate inquiries had been made. Mr. Campbell went on to say that the only point where the board was now divided was on estimates and tenders. "We have' got over that," said Mr. R. M. Russell, who moved that a modern system of chamber ovens be installed in Petone, in lieu of the present horizontal retorts. The motion was .seconded by Mr. Ashton and carried unanimously. DISCUSSION OVER TENDERS. The chairman said he thought the consulting engineer (Mr. A. Greville Walker) should be asked to»give an estimate of the cost of installing the system of chamber ovens installed at Devonport, and bring down plans and specifications. The last time the proposal was considered by the ex-board, plans and specifications had been prepared by outside firms, and he thought it would be putting these firms to unnecessary expense to prepare plans and specifications, as the rate of exchange made it impossible for them to compete against. the locally-made article. ' "Of course we would have to g~ to the Loans Board," said Mr. V. E. Jacobson. "We were told the last time we would have to go to the ratepayers,", replied the chairman. Mr. Hogg said he had hoped that the visit of Mr. Ashton to the Devonport Gas Works would put the board in the position of saying that it approved of the Lowe chamber ovens, but apparently this was not so. He personally was not in favour of tenders , being called again. Eighteen months ago the board called for tenders for plant that the competing firms thought best for Petone. One tendered for chamber ovens. There was not one chance in a hundred of the outside firms getting the contract; their prices would be the same as before. It took a considerable amount of money to prepare plans. He could see no reason why the board should not adopt the Lowe system. . A RELIABLE ESTIMATE. ' Mr. Ashton stated that Mr. Greville Walker considered that the board should call public tenders, and he himself would put' in a reliable estimate that could be opened with the other tenders. The chairman said that what was required could be drawn up and advertised, and a copy of the advertisement sent to Messrs. WoodhallDuckham, in. Australia. Mr. Hogg submitted that now that the board had decided to install chamber ovens, it should ask its consulting engineer what system he favoured, and abide by his decision. . When Mr. Ashton reiterated that Mr. Walker favoured the calling of public tenders, Mr. Hogg said that Mr. Walker had stated when in Petone that tenders should be called only if the board mistrusted present prices. Mr. Ashton submitted, that Mr. Walker had not made this provision when speaking to him at Auckland. The following notice of motion, moved by Mr. Russell and seconded by Mr. Campbell, was put to the meeting and carried, Messrs. Hogg and Jacobson voting against it:— "That the secretary be instructed to write to Mr. r Greville Walker, the board's consulting engineer, asking him to prepare plans and specifications and a reliable estimate for a Lowe chamber oven system, with 16ft ovens, two waste heat boilers, and water-: cooled condenser, with a maximum output of 540,000 cubic feet of mixed gas, and that advertisements be inserted in the local papers calling for: tenders for the erection of a chamber ovens system of gas carbonisation, with a maximum daily output of 540.000 cubic feet per day." The closing date for the tenders was three months after insertion of the advertisments.