TARANAKI POWER BOARD

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 16 September 1924, Page 8

TARANAKI POWER BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING. The Taranaki Power Board met at Eltham yesterday’. There were present: Messrs H. G. Carman (chairman), W. H. Were, J. L. Campbell, C. E. McGuinness, T. R, Anderson, V. Harkness, and G. Sangster. ROAD TOLLS. Replying to the board’s request that Power Boards be put on the same footing as the Public Works Department in regard to exemption from road tolls under the Public Works Act, the Public Works Department advised that the application could not be acceded to. The letter pointed out that the only exemptions so laid down in the Act were: The Governor and persons in attendance; members" of any military, militia or volunteer force when on.duty or going to or returning from parade in the uniform, (if any) of their corps; constables on duty and prisoners in their custody; passengers by public conveyance excepting at a ferry where tolls are lawfully taken from foot passengers; children going to or from school; all cattle the property of any person residing within one mile of a toll-gate going to or from water and feed; persons or vehicles employed; solely in drawing manure; persons,: vehicles, or cattle in respect of whom toll has been paid at the. same tollgate at any time since the midnight previous. The letter further intimated that to exempt Power Boards in a similar manner ■would require an amendment to the Act, and as local bodies were not exempt no such amendment could be considered.

The chairman said it had been suggested that the: board adopt a resolution recommending ? the • abolition of: toll-gates,' and on the motion of Mr.j Campbell it was decided to recommend; to the necessary authority - 'that toll-; gates he abolished as:soon "as the Motor-: Vehicles Bill; comes into operation. ; GENERAL. Acceptance,,ofqthe board’s invitation) to members of the society to-visit the! board’s, works at. Tariki and Motukawa! was received from the Taranaki; branch' of the New Zealand Society of Civil: Engineers. The society extended an: invitation to board members to attend! a meeting of the society at Tariki and Motukawa' oil ; Tuesday, 23rd inst. —It: was decided that the invitation be accepted, and that six members would: attend.

The Eltham Borcmgh Council, replying to the board’s application, agreed to give favourable consideration, to the work of asphalting the footpath in front: of the board’s new premises when estimates for the current year were being dealt with. 8 :

ENGINEERS’ REPORTS. The engineers, Messrs H. W. Climie and Son, reported as under, and the reports were adopted: > Hydro Development.—Themontractors for No. 2 adit, after driving 160 feet, have struck the same consolidated sand as was found in the first adit. The contractor for the erection of the houseat Motukawa has been held up by other tradesmen, and the house will not he ready for occupation until the end ofthis month. The contractor for the supply of gravel for metalling Motukawa Road has now quarried over 400 yards, which has been spread by the board’s: workmen. The road is now in very fair order. The contractor has completed the tunnel in Mr. Long’s pro-: perty, whereby the water will be taken into the .Mangaotea swamp from the Manganui river The engineer for the contractors has. been watching the operations of the 'tunnelling machine and: correcting defects during the past four; weeks. The resulting improvement was so great that the official tests of : the machine were carried out at, the beginning of the month. The average, speed of advance throughout the test was 3ft. 3in. per hour. The cutting time included all stops required for laying rails in front of the machine, replacing picks, and for shifting up the transom which takes the thrust of. the machine: The 'greatest -advance during any single- hour was live feet. The test may be considered very satisfactory, as the grey papa in ‘which the machine was working is considerably harder than the sample material oil which the guarantee -was based. It is to be regretted that the full fifty hours’ run could not he completed, as the machine ran into boulders after completing half this period. During the past week further boulders have been’ met with, one about every - five feet, and progress 'has been glow, as- considerable delay occurs when removing them by hand. Similar boulders were met with in No. 3 adit, which is now about 200 feet ahead of the machine. Once the boulders are passed, it is expected that, by working three shifts, about half a chain of tunnel can lie driven each day. It is intended to commence working- a third shift 'next 'week. A tip-head is being constructed at No. 3 adit, and arrangements are being made to transfer to there the smithy and machine shop, as well as the batterycharging equipment. A comfortable camp has now been established up the hill near the tunnel entrance. The pipe-line road has been shaped un and culverts nut in in readiness for metalling. The metal bins have been erected and a tramline run into the deposit of shell -pack, of which a quantity has been quarried. The fish ladder and other small jobs at the head-works have been completed. Tenders have been invited for driving 15 chains of tunnel in Mr. Downs’ property, and for the construction of a concrete culvert for the Motukawa stream near the powerhouse site.

Reticulation.—Two pole erection gangs, one cable erecting gang and one small gang erecting services, have been employed during the month. The pole line has been carried south via Midhirst, along the Monmouth Road to the Pembroke Road, and northwards from T.ariki Road to the Norfolk Road. It is proposed to carry this line on to the Maketawa factory and pick up a load of 30 horse-power there as soon as possible. It is proposed to .commence with another cable erection gang at the north end at the beginning of October. The foreman in this case will provide his own lorry at 10s per day. The balance of the poles and special structures have been erected in Eltham, with the exception of a few in Conway Road. About half the cables ha-vo been erected in Eltham. Failing a supply either from Opunake or Kaponga, it is proposed to push ahead with the line via Cardiff, to couple up the Tariki with the Dairy Company’s hydro supply at Eltham. The gang making concrete poles at Tariki has been doubled and the output correspondingly increased. With fine weather an output of 450 poles per month can be expected. If this output is maintained the total cost of poles will be about 65s each. This is no greater than the cost of equivolent natural round ironbark poles in the ship’s slings at main port. During the month the lorry and trailer has delivered all poles over a month did. The first consignment of bluegum poles has just come to hand and appear to he of good quality. It is proposed to ring these at the top to prevent sun cracks. No further supplies of ironbark poles are in sight. The lack of these poles.

which are required for transformer and other special structures, is causing some concern: The Eltham Dairy Co. have completed the erection of their new 135-h.p. turbine, and the concrete is now being tested out. The foundation for the hoard’s generator is now being placed, and the erection of the generator will be commenced at once. This plant should be in operation in about a month’s time.