ELECTRICITY.

Franklin Times, Volume XIX, Issue 138, 27 November 1929, Page 5

ELECTRICITY.

THE WORK IN FRANKLIN. - ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer, Mr L. G. Sharp, presented the following report at yesterday's meeting of the Franklin Electricpower Board: — Contracts: Contracts let at last meeting were accepted by the tender- -' ers and delivery of poles and transformers and installation work on groups at Maioro and Te Toro have been arranged as required. Messrs •Cooper and. Curd Ltd., have delivered the Chevrolet van in accordance with their contract. Tenders: Tenders have'been invited for copper wire, low tension insulators and single phase motors. j Surveys: Proposed lines have been surveyed and plans prepared of Settlement Road, Papakura, length of line 2£ miles and of Papakura-Hunua line, Mength of line 7i miles. New Lines Livened:. Pukekohe-Hel-vetia extension" was completed and livened on October 30. The Glenbrook /jßeach line was completed with the erection and livening of a transformer •on October 25. A new transformer •on Goodwin's Road, Aka Aka, was connected on November 20." An extension and transformer for Frost's mill, Tuakau, was livened on Novem"ber 12. A new transformer on Tuhi-anata-Paerata line was connected on November 15. The transformer and material, the property of the Board, have been recovered from Darby Bros. •Quarry and a small transformer erectred on. the Waihoehoe Road to supply other consumers who were previously .connected to Darby Bros. New .Work Undertaken.

Constructional Work: The following mew work has been carried out: —The erection of 31. main line poles at Settlement . Road, Papakura; the wiring of 2 J miles high tension line and 1£ vmiles of low tension at Maioro; \, mile ■of high tension and 20 chains of low tension line at Helvetia, including the fitting and erection of transformer sub station; 40 chains of low tension extension at Onewhero and 20 chains •of low tension on West Coast Road; the erection oX poles for high tension line and 75 K.V.A. sub-station for IFrost's. mill, the fitting and erection of transformers at Drury' and TuinV mata, and the fitting of high tension switch on Paerata main line. ; Ex--tensiqns have been made to existing lines""at Te Kohanga," Whan|arata, Buckland, Ararimu, Tuakau, Maiigatar -whiri, Pukekohe West, Rama Rama, and Aka Aka, and the erection of a transformer sub-station on existing line at Goodwin's Road, Aka Aka._ Service Lines: Service" lines have constructed at: —Pukekohe, Wai--uku, Tuakau, P'okeno, Maioro, Waiau Pa, Glenbrook, Puni. Paerata, Onewhero, Pukekohe East. Rama Rama, 'Whangarata, Buckland, Bombay, Man;gatawhiri, Ararimu, Karaka, Pukekohe West, Palumahoc, Opahckc,. Glenbrook. The above services necessitated the -erection of 93 poles and rails. - Maintenance of Lines: In addition to the usual maintenance of services and street lights stub poles have been erected and high tension lines tightened at Harris Road, Aka Aka, and -.Smith's Road, Otaua. The opportunity was taken on account of .the Public Works shutting down at midnight on October 29, to overhaul and paint all ironwork on the Pukekohe main substation switchgear. Trouble was experienced with the 11,000 volt -cable on the Government BombayPukekohe line on October 31, which affected the supply until the replacement of cable box insulators was carTied out on the following day. A •section of line at Karaka was struck by lightning on November 9, requiring the replacement of insulators, fuses .and the repair of consumers' switchboards. New Installations. Transport: The pole lorry has carted and distributed 89 poles mostly to Settlement Road, Te Toro and Maioro. 'The smaller trucks have been fully occupied carting material etc. for the above work.

Installations: Applications received for new installations during the period number 26 making a total of 3191. Permits issued for extensions and newwork were 30 the total being 4102. The testing staff has been exceptionally busy as during the month the following principal additions to the load have been made: 15 ranges, 26 waterheaters, 24 milking motors, 12 pump motors and 6 industrial motors included among which is a 50 h.p. motor at Frost's Flaxmill the total new connections being 96.

Group Contracts: The contractor on the Maioro Group is making good progress. The Te Toro group has not yet been started as the contractors have been engaged upon extensions to groups in other parts of the district. Canvassing: The Hunua District has been re-canvassed and particulars of the estimate and revenue offering are shown below. Until it is known whether this line is payable and the construction authorised nothing is being done about canvassing the area between Hunua and Happy Valley. The canvass made of the Waiulcu-P'uke-kohe Road at Pukeoware does not show sufficient revenue at present. Test Room: The usual maintenance work and the testing of meters, ranges and installation of test meters has been carried out.

General: The'cooking demonstration as arranged at the last meeting was held In the Masonic Hall. Fukekohe.

• Hunua District Ca/tvass. ■ the demonstrator being provided by ! Messrs Turnbull and Jones, Lid. With j regard to the Hunua district the estimate and revenue is as follows: —Estimated cost of line from Guillard's i Quarry, £3,030; revenue from consumers who have signed up, £421; percentage shown, 14 per cent; additional revenue which has been promised or can lie reckoned on for 1930, £O7; percentage of total 1G per cent; revenue of consumers who have cancelled since previous canvass, £180; of which £92 is from consumers on route of line shown in estimate. As the revenue shown above is short of that required I would suggest that a meet- j ing be called to try to increase the amount offering. j As we are erecting a great number of service lines I would like authority '

to place orders for service poles and braided wire for delivery in the New Year. ..._,. Jii The report was adopted. CONSULTING ENGINEER'S REPORT. The consulting engineer, Mr T. R. Overton, reported as follow: — "I beg to submit my report covering matters which have come under my attention since last Board meeting:—

Bombay Sub-station: Whilst in Wellington a few days ago I discussed the .question of extending the main switchboard and the installation of two permanent feeders with the Chief Electrical Engineer and the final arrangements arc to be settled with the District Electrical Engineer, Hamilton. , With regard to payment for the line which was agreed to at £2,600, I mentioned that we may not be in a position to meet this for some months, and was informed that so long as the amount was paid before the end of the current financial year the Department would not press. I would like authority, to complete the negotiations with the district electrical engineer and to call tenders for the switch-gear for Bombay. It is also necessary to have a spare length of 11,000 volt underground cable for the Railway crossing at Pukekohe in case a fault should occur in the .present work. Spare terminal blocks have already beejv ordered and bushings to replace those struck by lightning during the recent storm; these were borrowed from the Public Works Department. A settlement was reached with Mr Roose, Mercer, covering the payment for installation work done. Messrs Parvin and Hunt assisted very much in this, respect. The question of minimum payments for power at Paerata College has not been settled yet as Mr Clark is away until next Friday when an appointment will be made to interview him."

The report was adopted and gratification was expressed over the attitude of the Public Works Department regarding the payment for the Bombay line. • The engineer was authorised to purchase additional 11,000 volt line, as suggested.

It was decided to hold a meeting at Hunua, the chairman and Mr J. B. McKinney, the resident and consulting engineers to be present. In reply to Mr J. B. McKinney, the engineer §aid the poles had been delivered for the Happy Valley line and the erection of same would be commenced in about a fortnight's time. The work would be completed by about the end of January.