WAIRERE POWER BOARD

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4954, 11 February 1937, Page 5

WAIRERE POWER BOARD

RETICULATION AT MOKAUITI. MATERIALS FOR AWAKINO LINE. The monthly meeting of the Wairere Power Board was held at the Board’s offices at Pio Pio yesterday, Mr. R. Boddy presiding over Messrs. J. Trust,, who was elected to the Board in place of the late Mr. R. W. Neal, and G. W. Crocombe, C. Roberts, D. Sage, the secretary, Mr. Aston, and the engineer, Mr. Green. Messrs. Moore and Johnstone were granted leave of absence. The Central Waikato Power Board wrote inviting the Board’s representatives to a conference to discuss the Amalgamation Schemes Bill in Hamilton on March 3. On Mr. Crocombe’s motion the chairman and secretary were appointed to attend the conference. The residents of Pio Pio agreed some time ago to find £SO towards tar-sealing the footpaths of the township, and a letter was received asking for a contribution towards this sum. After a full discussion it was decided to contribute £3 3s. Ohura Reticulation. The chairman reported that endeavours had been made to have a conference with the Ohura County Council on the proposal to reticulate the latter body’s district. However, these had not been successful. In the meantime the Board had deferred certain works hoping that Ohura would come to a decision. The Ohura Council was sitting- the same day as the Board. The secretary stated that the prospects in the Ohura district seemed such as to warrant the appointment of a consulting engineer to report—it was hopeless until a reliable report had been secured. The chairman said there was nothing more that Wairere could do at present except to tell the Ohura Council that, providing it could be shown that there was a payable load, Wairere were quite prepared to take them over if they desired it. The onus was on Ohura to find whether the load was a payable one. Mokauiti Guarantee* Secured. The secretary reported that on January 21a visit was made with Mr. Moore to Mokauiti and all but one of the prospective guarantors had been signed up. The total guarantee now stood at £565, which was £ls short, of the objective. The engineer stated that the cost of this line would be about £3200. The secretary said said that he did not see where the money required for advances for consumers’ installations was to come from—he estimated at least another £IOOO would be required for this purpose. Provision would have to be made for the raising of this sum. A communication was received from the Mangateka Road settlers asking for a guarantee form to sign. The matter of a final decision in connection with the Mokauiti reticulation was deferred until further information on the question of advances to consumers had been secured. The secretary was asked to have this ready for next meeting. The Awakino Extension. The secretary reported that the first Order in Council authorising the Board to raise £17,000 for further reticulation had come to hand. The offer of a loan of £IO,OOO of the above .at 31 per cent, interest had been accepted, and an amending Order in Council, embodying the terms imposed by the lenders, and a copy of the Gazette Notice should be to hand before next meeting. The consulting engineer had reported having ordered the bulk of the line materials for the Awakino extension. The engineer stated that a start had been made with the pegging of the Awakino line and as the dates of delivery of materials for the line ranged from 5 to 14 weeks he would be held up for some time owing to the difficulty of securing poles. No space was available for storing the materials and he recommended that a section be obtained on which to erect a store and pole dump. A motion was passed confirming contracts made by the consulting engineei*. , . The chairman gave notice of intention to strike the security rate for the reticulation loan, this to be confirmed at a special meeting of the Board to be held on evening of 27th inst. The authority given the engineer at the special meeting in January to purchase a truck was confirmed. No Sub*idy Available. The Labour Department, in reply to a request for a subsidy on the Awakino line, said it was noted that the original guarantee would provide a return of 15 per cent, on the cost of the extension, and as this was deemed sufficient to safeguard a Power Board, it was regretted that a subsidy could not be made available. The secretary said the guarantee was lower than had been originally proposed. If the figures were such as to satisfy the Loans Board, then it would not be possible to obtain a subsidy from the Labour Department. The chairman commented that the reply was very different from that made by the Minister of Employment when he visited Te Kuiti—the latter did not actually say the subsidy would be obtained, but said favourable consideration would be given. Mr. Crocombe: It’s like the housing scheme. The backblocks settlers do not come in at all, yet they are the most important. Mokau River Settlers. Mr. Sage enquired about the position of the Mokau River settlers. The secretary said that if the increase in costs was in line with that on the main line the cost of this branch would be £1650 and the present guarantee of £220 would be too small. The Loans Board had approved the loan for a guarantee of 16 2-3 per cent, over six years, and £275 would be required as guarantee over a six-year term.

The secretary was instructed to approach the consulting engineer to obtain more definite details of the increase in costs on this line. Plans and specifications for a staff cottage had been drawn up. The matter was discussed at yesterday’s meeting and left in the hands of Mr. Crocombe, and the secretary and engineer. After some discussion it was decided that free service would not be given under the range hiring scheme under future contracts. The Board decided, as a result of the three months’ trial, to have the office closed on Saturday mornings permanently. Revenue for the nine months ended December 31 exceeded the previous year’s total for the same period by £59 5s 7d.