ELECTRIC POWER BOARD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 19 January 1927, Page 14

ELECTRIC POWER BOARD.

THE TAR.IKI SCHEME. BOARD’S MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Taranaki Power Board was held in Eltham oji Monday. There were present: Messrs H. G. Carman (chairman), W. H. Were, R. J. Knuckey, O. E. McGuinness,' T. R. Anderson, J. Robson. Leave of absence was granted to Messrs O. Foreman and J. T. Belcher. T. Johnstone ,Midhurst, wrote inquiring the price for power sufficient to cut~4ooo to- 5000 super feet of timber daily at a mill being erected at the top cjid of Surrey Road, and 91 chains from the board’s- last pole. In the extension there would be four householders also to-supply. —Referred to the resident engineer and the chairman to deal with. RECIPROCAL SCPPLY. Replying to a communication forwarded by the board, the town clerk, New Plymouth, wrote stating that the council had no desire to be relieved of its contracts with the Inglewood and Yv'aitar-a Boroughs, and waa not prepared to discuss the question of .the oi;a-rd taking over tho.se supplies. The council, however, was willing to meet the committee and discuss a reciprocal arrangement for the -supply of electricity between the two power authorities in times of emergency. If this met with the approval of the board, and the latter suggested the time and place for a conference, arrangements would be made for the council’s representatives .to bo present. Mr. McGuinness thought that the board should endeavour to have ail the power supplies in Taranaki linked up. He considered such would be better for all concerned and also- would give consumers more faith in the continuous supply of current, and would be an inducement to take power.

The chairman mentioned that the Tnriki scheme was -already linked up with New Plymouth and K.a-pongu, and the installation- of a transformer would effect a connection lretween New Plymouth and Tvaponga. A-s far as the South Taranaki Power Board was concerned, the proposal had been turned down some time ago. The chairman and engineer were appointed to meet the New Plymouth Borough Council and it was further -resolved i*o write the South Taranaki Power Board and the Ha-wera Electric Light Company, informing them that the board had current available if -required.

FI NANCTAL STATEMENT. The power fund account as at January 17 showed: Credit balance last meeting, £3664 4s 7d; received since, goods £52 9s 7-d, current £1250 14s 7d, installations £IBO 4s, interest £9 5s 9d, compensation £l7 7s sd; total £5174 5s lid; less accounts to- pass £lOsl 10s; £4112 14s lid. The loa-n account showed a credit of £82928 0s Id, after allowing for payments passed of £6364 0s 2d. WORK OF THE MONTH. Tiie report of the Consulting Engineer (Mr H. R. Climie) as follows, was adopted:— Main Tunnel.—A start was made to lid the main tunnel on the 22nd ult. and it wa-S-completely tiled in 48 hours, file full press are was uot applied until a neck later, when the Ratapiko dam overflowed the splitway. The tunnel has successfully withstood the test. The amount of leakage from the adits is trivial, and amount to a few gallons per minute. Tile concrete .lining in No. 1 shaft is now being extended to the ground surface. M'ako Stream. —The work of deepening the approach to the mam tunnel was completed on the 22nd ult. Two bends further down the stream were short circuited by short cuttings. The short diversion tunnel near the forebay is now being concreted. Tail Race.—Being favoured with fine weather, it was possible to complete the heavy concrete retaining wall immediately below the power house. This will greatly facilitate the work of extending the power -house foundations when required. The concrete parapet on the down stream end of the tunnel to retain the filling has hem constructed since the holidays. Ratapiko Dam. Water from the Manganui River on the 22nd ult. was turned into this dam, which was then full to within 12 feet of the spillway level. It- was not until six days later that the water overflowed the spillway provided at Ratapiko. The water in the dam has since been lowered eight leer to allow the enlargement of the Mangaotea tunnel to be completed. A slight seepage occurred at the west end of the embankment, but this was almost entirely stopped when the water was drawn down four feet-.

Water Races. —The concreting ol riic Tai-iki water race was completed on the 21st n.'t. The contractor for the U a ngaotea water race has snot yet completed his contract. Until this is done, it is not possible to construct the spfll- . ways, on the Mangaotea .stream. Power Station. —The pipe line was filled on. the 22nd ult., and water turned on to the turbines the following day, and the drying out of the generators commenced. It was found very difficult to drive the moisture out ot the low pressure coils, the ordinary an thud of short circuiting the windings having to be superseded by blowing air at 190 degrees into the generator, assisted by current obtained from tli,a other exciter. As a shortage of power from the Board’s temporary .supplies was imminent, it was decided to put one turbine into service on the 9th lust., although the official trials hnu not hen completed. It is found that the present requirements of the Board’s district, including Stratford Borough, does not exceed one third of the capacity of one of the turbines. It was found that for reasons beyond our control the sueed of the temporary supplies had been 3 per cent. high. The supply from the new turbines is now being maintained at the standard frequency. This results j;n a slightly slower speed of all motors connected to the system. Reticulation. —Owing to the; holidays, the amount of work done has been considerably less than usual. Lines have been erected and put into service on the; Hastie and Pembroke Roads. Six thousand six hundred-volt lines have lie n erected along the maim transmission line from Beaconsfield Road to Cross Road. Wire is now being erected on York Road. The Edtham main substation has been fenced with 6ft wire netting, and simbihir work is being carried out at the Stratford sub-station. Poles have been erected on Anderson Road. Po’e.s have been laid nip on Denmark Terrace, Radnor, and Rntapiko Roads. GENERAL. Aft Were mentioned that the Board was taking sill the watei out of the Mangamii, and the engineer (Mr Cl inlie) replied that- lie proposed to put in a. spillway as a reemcly. The position at the Mamgaotea stream was also discussed, and it was resolved to put in a 21-inch pipe with provision for reducing the flow of water in the case of emergency to .supply landowners.—Abridged from Argils.