ELECTRIC POWER

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3404, 15 December 1931, Page 5

ELECTRIC POWER

WAITOMO BOARD. MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Waitomo Power Board was held yesterday. Present: Messrs. W. A. Lee (chairman), V. W. Simms, E. Gorton, T. M. O'Connell, W. S. Cato, J. N. Boddie and W. Irvine. The following business was dealt with: — Finance. The secretary's statement of accounts as at 1/12/31 included the following details: — Trading Department. —Amount outstanding, 1/4/31, £4364 12s 4d; intsallations and sales to 30/11/31, £l3lO 2s lOd; repayments to 30/11/31, £2577 19s lOd: balance outstanding, 1/12/31, £3096 15s 4d. Sale of Current. Arrears 1/4/31, £499 4s Id, sales to 30/11/31, £12,977 2s 6d; repayments to 30/11/31, £13,083 3s; balance outstanding 1/12/31, £393 3s 7d. The chairman commented on the fact that only £393 was shown as outstanding for sale of current. This was probably the lowest _ figure in this connection for some time. Mr. Gorton: We have not had many bad debts this year, though, no doubt, there will be some. The Chairman: They are already known, at any rate. Mr. Simms: We will always have a few. Mr. O'Connell: I think it is a very satisfactory position considering the large district over which we work. The secretary stated that though there had been an increase for the year as far as sales of current were concerned, the last month, compared with the corresponding month of last year, were about £2O lower, due to the abolition of the fuse maintainance and horse power charges, the effect of which was now beginning to be felt.

Engineer's Report.

The engineer's report contained, inter alia, the following in regard to work carried out during the past month:—

The following extra installed load was applied for during October and November: 89 lighting points, 13 community lights, 1 street light, 14 heating and wireless points, 3 ranges, 2 domestic water-heaters, 2 shed motors, 3 farm pumps, 1 2 h.p. and 2 3 h.p. industrial motors and a total of 170 h.p. in motors at the Te Kuiti Lime Company. Reinspection Work.---During October and November 15 installations have been inspected, bringing the total to date to 78. Owing to the amount of wiring work in hand, slow progress is being made .with this work, and the staff will be fully occupied with extensions for the lime industry during the eai'ly part of 1932.

Cross-Arm Timber.

When dealing with matters in his report the engineer stated that at present he was using tallow wood (Australian) for cross-arms for power poles. Mr. O'Connell asked whether it would not be possible to use a New Zealand wood for this purpose; he was in favour of supporting local industry wherever possible.

Mr. Boddie thought that if Maungehou timber was obtainable it would suit the requirement excellently. The engineer stated that he had used rata for the purpose, which, at the same price as tallow wood, had proved fa'irly satisfactory; he had had difficulty recently, however, in obtaining rata. On the motion of Mr. O'Connell the engineer was asked to enquire into and report at next meeting on the question of obtaining New Zealand wood for cross-arms. Break-downs.

"I think the past has been the worst month for some years," stated he engineer when speaking in respect of his report on the subject of breakdowns. There had been eight breakdowns on the Public Works lines and three on the Board's own lines.

In reply to a question by the chairman, the engineer scaled that the breakdowns could hardly be avoided; they were not due to any lack of maintenance on the part of the Board. The engineer stated further that the Public Works had explained them as due to birds getting caught in the lines, defective insulators, lightning storm, giving out of switch at Mystery Creek, switch to dead line at Penrose.

Otorohanga Showroom

The Board's showroom at Otorohanga was the subject of reference by Mr. Gorton, who complained that there was practically nothing to display in the showroom. It contained only a pump, one cistern and a stove. Seeing that the Board was now obtaining equipment on consignment, the Board should have something by way of sample to show consumers. The Te Kuiti showroom, on the other hand, contained a considerable quantity of equipment and "looked very nice." The engineer, in reply, stated that as the Board now purchased from the dealers only on consignment it was hardly fair to ask the suppliers to provide material just for display purposes. The showroom equipment in the Te Kuiti office, the engineer added, was now being depleted. Radio Regulations.

"It was 'not a whim of the Powe/ Board, but a requirement of the regulations," stated the engineer, when speaking in connection with a circular from the P.W.D., wherein it was set out that the flex on American radios was 'now accepted as being within the requirements of the regulations, whereas previously it was generally necessary to remove it and re-flex it when installed. The circular explained that the flex now used on American machines imported into New Zealand would, in most cases, be quite all right. The engineer stated that the re-flexing of radios as required by the P.W.D. regulations had caused a lot of complaints from those who had had radios installed, but he wished to state that this had formerly been made necessary by regulations outside the requirement of the Power Board itself.