HUNDREDS ON NIGHT WORK

Evening Star, Issue 19778, 31 January 1928, Page 10

HUNDREDS ON NIGHT WORK

EFFECT Of THE DROUGHT RELIEVING THE POWER LOAD [Special to the ' Star.’] WELLINGTON, January 30. The long drought is beginning to have important effects on industrial operations in Wellington district. The Hutt Valley Lower Hoard, which relied on power from the Government station at Mangahao, has lor several days been endeavoring to keep down the load, and as several large i'acories and .a meat works in its area have stand-by steam plants, those have come again into operation, and the Gear Meat Works is feeding back electricity into power lines when its own load is off. The most serious interruption to ordinary work is at Petonc Railway Workshops, where two-thirds of. its 700 employees have been idle. To-day they start work at 11 p.m., and will continue on night shifts till the power shortage ends. All departments requiring power in this electrified workshop have to ran during the night, and as a result a load of 500 kilowatts will drop to 25 kilowatts during the daytime. Wellington City, having a largo steam plant, is imposing no restriction on consumers, and is equally fortunate in its water supply, hoses "being still permitted where the service is metered.