ELECTRIC POWER

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4745, 12 September 1935, Page 7

ELECTRIC POWER

SUPPLY AUTHORITIES. SOUTH ISLAND PROGRESS. ENGINEERS CONFER. Problems touching the supply of electrical power in New Zealand were discussed on Monday, when electrical engineers associated with the Government, municipalities, power boards, and other concerns, gathered for the annual conference of the Electric Supply Authority Engineers' Association. The conference was officially opened by the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. J. Bitchener), with whom was associated Mr. F. T. M. Kissel, Chief Electrical Engineer of the Department.

The president of the association, Mr. J. G. Lancaster, of Wellington, said that by next year it was to be hoped that there would be eighty bodies represented on the association.

At the last conference it had been decided that this conference be extended to a third day, which would be spent wholly or in part in a joint conference with the secretaries' committee. There was a fairly long agenda paper, which included four papers—each of which would merit talks. In addition, he himself would give a short address. Addressing the Minister, Mr. Lancaster said it was believed that Mr. Bitchener, as Minister of Public Works, viewed with increased interest the activities of the engineers as his knowledge of their problems and activities increased. "We recognise that the Public Works Department is the. Dominion controlling authority and the principal generating authority, but we claim that the electric power boards and supply authorities of this country play an important part in making the State electrical supply undertaking a success," he said.

The association was formed some ten years ago to enable engineers of supply authorities to deal collectively with State departments, and since then it had developed into an institution for the consideration of all subjects, technical and otherwise, concerning their work, said Mr. Lancaster. They kept in touch throughout the year, and it was claimed that the conferences not only benefited the combines represented, but the Dominion as a whole. The Minister, in opening the conference, stressed the advantages to be gained from conferences. In the year there had been published regulations in connection with electrical supplies, he said, regulations which had taken years of work; and he' would congratulate the aompilers on their painstaking efforts. Possibly all those present would not agree with the regulations brought down, but he would urge the co-operation of the association as the only means of arriving at an issue satisfactory to all concerned. The engineers were the leaders in electrical development in the Dominion, and the country looked to them to give the lead. The Government, as well as the engineers, was keenly interested in electricity and would leave no stone unturned to do what it considered fair and right.. Mr. Bitchener concluded by paying a tribute to the work of Mr. Kissel, who, he said, was a man of outstanding ability. . Mr. Kissel said that the year just past had perhaps not been very eventful in the electricity industry, but there were signs ,that business was picking up.

Comparative Figures.

In 1934 there was an increase of 5.6 per cent, over the previous year; last year there was an increase of 6 per cent, over 1934; and the June quarter of this year returned an increase of 6.3 per cent, over the corresponding period of last year. While the increases were, perhaps, not as great as they might have expected, taking as a comparison the figures in boom years, the fact that the increase was steady was the reassuring factor. It was also particularly gratifying to know that the increase was somewhat greater in the South Island than in the North. The reason for that probably was that in the really bad part of the depression the South Island went back further than the North, because of its larger percentage of manufacturing industries; but now he thought the South Island was coming into its own again and progressing faster than in the North.