HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 17 August 1926, Page 8

HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

THE) TAJMKL SCHEME. MONTHLY MEETING OK ROAR'D. The monthlv meeting ut LXaramild Electric Tower Hoard was held at Eltham yesterday, when there were present : Messrs -H. G. Carman \cium--111 an), \Y. H. Were, H, J. J<mickey. C. }£,. McG uiinies-s, 'i. K- Anderson, J. Dobson and C. Foreman. OUEIRATIONS AX THE) HEADWORKS. The hoard’s con,suiting engineers, Messrs IX. \Y. Climie and Sons, reported ,as Jollows : The wet weather experienced during the last three weeks has held up considerably all. sections o.f the work, fortunately. eaiiy in the month, tne intlucn/.a, epidemic abated without affecting No. ■' camp. On July 26 a rainfall, approximately s ix inches in. 21 hours, occurred at Ratapiko, and caused a Hocul in the Make stream about 100 times greater than its normal How. Jhe scour vitlto in the diversion tunnel, not being designed for this abnormal volume, only vented a fraction of the water, which backed up over the Ratapiko Road to .within nine feet ol the spillway. Xoi two days the trail lie was diverted o\ ei the deviation, but as ,'i chains was unmetal led. the settters suitcrc,d some ■inconvenience. It is proposed to metal the remainder ol the deviation as soon a.s the metal is available horn Iho crusher, which has been employed on more urgent work. Xhe Ratapiko dam withstood the test well and showed no signs of leakage. Alain funnel.—The contractors havecompleted anil concreted the south end of the tunnel as lar as the Mako stream. There now remains only about a chain of this tunnel to be driven between No. 1 iand No. 2 shafts. This would have been completed had “papa rock” not been encountered, nor the. work interrupted by water near No. 1 shaft. The work of concreting the main tunnel has been carried on during the month by the Board’s workmen in two places, each working tinee shifts. Another six chains requires to be concreted and about fifty chains of tunnel given a light coating with the cement gun, when the three adits can he closed.

During the wet weather a fortnight ago, water came through into the tunnel from the stream fifty feet above in the bad section near No. 1 shaft. Although it did not damage the tunnel a considerable amount of silt and sand came through and the work ol concreting was thereby delayed. Xoi tunaceij the water entered where the concrete abuts on. the “papa, rock” which it could not .scour, ,a,mt permitted the concreting of the tunnel towards No. i shaft to he completed. The stream has been diverted and the iiulow very much reduced, but wo considered it advisable, in order to avoid further delays, to flume the stream for about two chains over the weak section. Owing to the state of the jvupara Road, increasing difficulty is experienced by tliej carting contractor in getting supplies of cement into No. 1 and No. 2 shafts.

. Mako Stream.—This work was taken out of the contractors’ hands on July 2d. Since then, however, owing to the swollen condition of the stream, it has not been possible to work .in the bottom. A.s many men as possible, however, have been employed on the top easing, the batters iamd reconstructing the spoil tips. Unless fine weather is experienced and the stream considerably reduced in volume, it v.'ili now be difficult to take up the bottom of this .stream until it can be diverted through the main tunnel. Power House.—-The work of erecting the turbines, generators and switch gear is proceeding satisfactorily, but little could be done outside on the main sub-station.

Ratapiko.—The concrete weir in the spillway has been completed. A giating of rails lias been erected over the month of the diversion xnnnel.

ALtngaotca Tunnel. —Thu- work has been delayed by the heavy rain. Only about 80 feet now requires to be driven to connect with the original, contract. The water in that section is now being pumped one to safeguard the contractors from an in-rush of writer. Reticulation.—With fair weather the electric; lines on the Rotokare nil Tiri mo ana Roads will be completed nextweek. An extension of half n mile along the Kaipoi Road from Salisbury Road lias been carried out to serve three farm houses.

Water Races.—Mr. Neilson's gang has been employed deepening the race in Mr. TCa.ra.lus’ property, as there was too much water to- penn.it of concreting being done. ' DISTRIBUTING THE ROWER.

The resident engineer (Mr. 13, W. Goldsmith) reported as under: The number of consumers to date is 1083, 68 installations arc ready for connection, and seven further installations are signed up. A canvass of Pembroke Road from the Pembroke factory to But clay Road shows that the erection of a line would not at present he justified. The total distance, including hr,if a mile of Barclay Road, is miles, and eigiit lighting and heating installations are offering. There are three farms on which motors may be installed at a later date, but until the settlers are prepared to sign up for these the road is not a payable proposition. A canva.ss of the Raupuha Road indicates that this road will probabh be worth reticulating. The cnnvassei lias been unable to meet several, of the residents, as they have been away on holiday. A further visit will show definitely whether tlib necessary revenue can be obtained

T attended the conference of electrical supply authority engineers in Wellington on July 2<J to 23. Much very useful work was done, there bein,/ three important matters for consideration, namely, the new installation wiring regulations, the new regulations under the Public Works Act, and the draft of the proposed standardised safety rules. The members of the conference were formed into three committees, one of which dealt exhaustively with each of the above subjects. Recommendations involving important alterations to the wiring rules went forward to the advisory committee. which has this matter in hand. In addition to this committee work, papers on electric cooking (Mr. Toogood) and hardwood poles (Mr. TempTin) . were read and useful discussions took place. After hearing at first hand of the troubles which other boards have experienced and are experiencing, [ was more than ever convinced of the wisdom of this hoard’s policy in adopting concrete poles. In view of the fact that there has been no sign of any disadvantage whatever with the latter poles, I consider they should he used wherever practicable. The reports were adopted. COLLECTION OF ACCOUNTS. Mr. Dobson brought up the matter of the collection of accounts. He said that consumers in the outer areas of the board’s district were finding it troublesome to post small amounts to the Eltham office, and suggested that

the board employ a man for the purpose of collecting accounts. • The chairman thought that too much expense would be involved, as the work would be found to be more than one man could do over the board’s whole district. Air Anderson w r as strongly of the opinion that some better facilities should be provided for the public in other districts The office was at present in one corner of the large area under the board’s jurisdiction. The secretary, Air AY. J. Tristram, suggested that the meter reader should he authorised to collect accounts, but members realised that this would result in nis work taking much longer. Mr. Clinue remarked that the boaj'd was only meeting the same difficulties as experienced by other boards. The Wairarapa Board had to establish an office at each of five towns in its area, but had found it possible to save expense by running a showroom in conjunction with the office. It was finally decided to refer the matter to the finance committee. GENERAL. Advice was received from the Hon. (). J. Hawken anil the Public Trustee to the effect that the investment board of the latter department had granted the loan of £50,000. part of the loan authorised at the loan poll tai/eu on July 5, with interest at six per cent and one per cent sinking fund for a teTm of 36J yearsj