HARD ROAD TO HOE.

Grey River Argus, 17 June 1926, Page 4

HARD ROAD TO HOE.

POWER BOARD’S HANDICAP. Unforscen difficulties that have had to be faced by the Grey Power Board since it came into existence were told by the Engineer at last night’s meeting Although the Board bad consulted with the engineers of the Post and Telegraph and Railway Departments, and had been granted permission to * erect transmission poles along routes approved by both Departments, the poles, after being erected had to be shifted again by order of the Post and Telegraph Department, on the grounds that the high tension wires were too close to the Department’s wire for safety. The Engineer did not blame the individual engineers of either Department, who had always given him every assistance, but special regulations had recently been brought in relative to high tension wires, and if any interference arose with either Department, the onus rested with the Board. The Engineer mentioned other handicaps due to local conditions which were not met with in any other part of the Dominion. For instance, the roads on the West Coast were generally very narrow, and the Government departments invariably picked out ihe better side of the road, leaving the Board to take what was left. Along the Runanga route, transmission poles had to be erected in a swamp, which meant extra expense and the Board’s wire would have to cross the Post and Telegraph Department’s wires in two different places, necessitating the erection of two protection devices at a cost of approximately £7O each. The work of bringing the wires across the bluff nt the Greymouth Quarry was also a difficult and expensive matter, owing to the rough nature of the country.