POWER BOARD MATTERS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 April 1925, Page 8

POWER BOARD MATTERS.

e answer to the petition. That was ninedays before the meeting. The Secretary ■I (Mr Fogarty) said he had not got it as 0 Mr Doogan had it. Mr Fogarty said. 1 he would see Mr Doogan. At last I was 0 fold that. I could not see it until the meeting: it would be read out then. " The, explanation was much after this ’ style: That a number of names were not of ratepayers, .some had signed c just to get rid of a pest, that some ‘ children had been asked to sign for t their-'parents, and thfit the petition [. had been circulated by some irresponAible individuals. In support of their [ action he quoted the Greymouth L Borough Council which, if he had said what took place it was a defeat. Then he quoted the Grey Harbour Board. , Two members of the ..Power Board are > sitting on this body. Mr Tennent here ; said that the area at the mile peg

— was insufficient/ I made it my business to ,see Mr Schreiber’s report, and ,if the Power Board had paid for it. Mr Fogarty said that they did not have any report nor did they pay for‘ one. Mr Fogarty then showed me a report ' of Mr Langford’s, which gave as thp main reason for abandoning the Arnold site that some rivers from the high country were likely to break into Lake Brunner at some future date, particularly the Teremakau, as it had done so before, and the same thing might occur again at some future time, He goes on to say that there would be danger from flood on this account. Among the minor reasons was that local poundage (as distinct from lake storage) was found to be very limited. He goes on to say that local poundage adjacent to the power station is advisable because. with a fluctuating load advantage can be taken of the minute to minute conservation of water. I want to explain that if the nnwnr wm-l-c hnJ

bu explain uiai ii me power worKs nad been started at the Arnold and the natural condition of the country had been taken advantage of, about 50ft is available. Now a 1000 h.p. generator would take in round numbers 200 cubic feet per ■second, or using the New Zealand terms 200 Government heads of water with a full load. If the load fluctuate the water could not be stored at point, but it would go over the parapet or bywash or spillway. I asked Messrs James ! O’Brieif and Sydney Fry to go with me to the Arnold and measure the flow of f water. We went and found it was I about 700 cubic, feet pert second, or 700 \ Government heads then flowing down the river. I told the Power Board that I had been to the Arnold and measured the flow of water and that I had Mr O’Brien and Mr Sydney Fry, mining engineer, with me. The meeting, however, voted £lO 10s to Mr Gillies to go up and measureVtlie water, and I think it cost about £6 for motor hire J].fi WAll T monfinvt In oKaw 4-

as wen. i mention tins to show that I have not been able to do anything. When the plans and specifications for ‘’the power house were such that they could not be used the specific'ation was read out by Mr Langjford at the first meeting that J was present at. I tided to find.out certain things that in my opinion should have been in the specifications. It was decided that anything that should crop up should be left to the town and Cobden members. These plans for the power house had to be altered. I did not-know a word about it until the meeting. I may here say that I was tho only member of the

Board that could have drawn a plan to house that machinery, and I was not consulted in any way. The members of the Power Board had arranged prior to my obtaining a seat that they should pay Mr Turner, of Christchurch, £5O to say what tender we should accept for the steam .plant. Mr Lythgoo recommended us _

,t to accept the National Comgypany s tender- for the electric plant. 1 Eventually he was appointed engineer i to the Board, and then discovered that . fundamentally the arrangement set out c by Mr Langford was unworkable. In ; the item “2-600 k.v.a. transformers to . step the generator voltage up to 11,000 > at the price of £1500,” the engineer , says the price quoted was fair and ; reasonable. He recommended its acI. ceptance of the National Company’s ' offer. If this material is for spare transformers for stand-by in case cm a breakdown, it should not be wanted > for at least 18 or 24 months. With the generating plant I notice on looking through the files an estimate by Mr Langford on the Dobson steam plant for the same thing that we have now for £20,009. That will now be £33,000, not including preliminary expenses of over £4OOO. No one asked why it was so much more. How does the Grey Power Board come in ? The .same fking applies to the estimates of the Arnold. I mean the recanted one) running this plant at Dobson will run into £20,000 per year. I said in one of inv

’ w x ftdiu in one oi iny ’ . rs the Press that it looked as > 1;. was going" to cost £BOOO a year. - lhe plant must earn £2O per k.w. to - come square. Timaru buys the cur--1 rent from Lake Coleridge for .£8 per < k.w. at a flat rate for the year. You 5 can picture our position. Our coal bill ; alone will cost for 1000 k.w. £5OOO. If ' we had put our power station at the Arnold River that amount for interest 1 m addition to what we have to pay would have paid for the installation of a 3000 k.w. plant, and we would never have had to pay for any coal, and the would be less than half. The coal bill for 3000 k.w. would be £15,000 a year and the plant would be worn out in less than twenty years, whereas the water power- plant would last for practically all time, and no coal to pay for. Mr Editor, did you ever think of the value of the Arnold River as compared with coal. There are from 30,000 to 40,000 h.p. available. At the present price of coal, say 30,000 h.p. at £4OOO per 1000 h.p.. £120,000 per year, a better proposition than the Dobstrn coal mine or the Wallsend, and it cannot. like coal mines, be worked out. When Mr Doogan vacated file chair, at the last meeting on the 21st inst!, he read a paper trying to justify turning from water power to steam. He told ns that it was tlm proper thing to start with a steam plant, and build up the load and then go in for a hydroplant. He did not mention anything

(Tfo the Editor.) Sir, —I should like to say a few words through your .paper to the people di Cobden in the 1 first/place and to the’ 800 odd people who signed the petition against the action of the members of the Grey Power Board against the z steam scheme at Dobson. If you people of Cobden expected me to do anything I have to say that I could not. I could not even get a word im I tried to do so, as the saying goes, edgeways, but I got a . terrible slating from the Chairman (Mr Doogan), so bad that’’he' came and said he was sorry the next day. He .said that I did not know anything, and he had a mate in Mr Carter., Mr Tennent said that I was barking up the wrong tree. Rather a scientific way of finding out if I knew anything; Mr Doogan said : “Did I set myself up against Mr Schreiber?” After bejng practically stunned by Mr Doogan’s slating for what I had a per- ’ feet .right to, that is, to have a say, as I was elected to a seat on the Board, J fail to see that I had offended in any way. So I picked up courage and asked, to see the correspondence between the Power Board and the Minister of Pub- — lie Works, or in other words, the

■ about Diesel engines. Timaru is ii stalling a plant of 2.500 h.p. sets— I 1000 h.p. complete with alternators “ auxiliaries 'for between £15,000' anc 1 £16,000, and the annual cost, includ- ' ing interest and sinking fund would _ not exceed £2OOO per annum. This, is for a stand-by plant. , He instanced Christchurch, Auckland and other places, but ’did not tell us that in all ’ of these steam'plants carried a baby that the water power had to adopt. Trollhattan has now a power’ station completed of 13 turbine generator sets of 13,000 h.'p. each with duplication under construction to make this mighty Troll into 425,000 h.p. MiEditor, you. must in this instance overlook the mention of the country of my birth. I never make it a practice. I am now a' New Zealander, and I would like New Zealand to take pride of place in the development of our water power. T- should like that to be the underlying principle of our doings in matters of this kind. I may say that the starting with steam and building up a load is held to be the right course by a lot

■ of New Zealand engineers.! would like s to say that they may be termed mech- ■ anical cranks. They have stood too long 3 in the one place, and got rooted to the spot they are standing on. I am sure, r Mr Editor, that you will find that I ’ have been too long-winded, but I ex- ! pect to’ have a new board after the 29th * and they may let me have my say and 3 I would have no need to bother you fc further. Thanking you in anticipation T . I am, etc., — F CHARLES UDDSTROM. • Cobden, April 27, 1925. ' \ ■ ! ; (Portions of our correspondent’s letter have been deleted, but nothing that affects his argument.—Ed., “Star.”)