Brief Mention.

Matamata Record, Volume XIV, Issue 1193, 5 February 1931, Page 4

Brief Mention.

The annual inspection of power poles is now being carried out by the Thames Valley Electric Power Board’s staff.

The vital statistics for Matamata for the month of January are, those for the same month of the previous year being in parentheses : Births 4 (12), deaths 0 (2), marriages 2 (4). Miss M. Foster, of Matamata, and Mr. Hares, of Peria, both of whom have relatives in Napier, left for that town with the ambulance party yesterday.

There are now connected and operating in the Thames Valley Electric Power Board’s area 2129 water heaters, 432 electric ranges, and 2599 motors on farms, of which 1997 are milking motors.

Messrs. J. Buchanan (chairman) and D. V. Saunders (clerk), of the Matamata Town Board, journeyed to Hamilton yesterday to meet the Highways Board over matters affecting the town district.

Shags and hawks have made their appearance in increased numbers since the Hawke’s Bay Acclimatisation Society decided to do away with the bounty which was being paid for the killing of the birds.

The total number of consumers now connected to the Thames Valley Electric Power Board’s mains is 7699, including 1101 in the Thames borough and 684 in the Te Aroha borough.

As the work of the house-wiring branch of the Thames Valley Electric Power Board has fallen off considerably six men have had to be paid off already. There are now only three wiremen employed.

Many inquiries from outside districts as far afield as Wellington, Palmerston North and Whangarei, have been received this year by the Matamata A. and P. Association for schedules, particularly of the home industries section.

For the season up to the end of January the Morrinsville Dairy Company’s production of butter was 1347 tons, compared with 1073 tons for the corresponding period of las: season, an increase of 25 per cent. The January production was 223 tons 17 cwt, an increase of 15.7 per cent over the production for January 1930, when 193 tons was made. The Minister of Railways (Hon. W. A. Veitch) has advised Mr. C. H. Clinkard, M.P., that he regrets that he is unable to accede to the request for the stoppage of express trains at Tirau and Ngongotaha. The Minister is of the opinion that local traffic is ;provided with a reasonable service, having regard to the volume of traffic.

The Morrinsville .troubleman reported in a letter read at the February meeting of the Thames Valley Electric Power Board that a fire had occurred in a block of shops in Thames street on New Year’s Day. He did not consider there was any possible suspicion of the cause being laid to electrical apparatus.

“ I have seen some power lines put up by contract, and they would not suit this board,” said the chairman of the Thames Valley Electric Power Board, Mr. F. M. Strange, ■during a discussion at the February meeting on the merits of erecting power lines by contract or day labour. He added that the board had very few new districts to reticulate now, the bulk of its work being to change over existing lines to a higher voltage.

Bankers are nothing if not thorough. Following the startling rise in the exchange rates for cheques drawn on Australian banks ia. church firm recently paid in cheques: on which the exchange came to over £l2. A cheque was drawn for this amount and paid to the bank with the request that the accompanying receipt should be completed. The receipt form was returned with an intimation attached that if the firm would affix a receipt stamp the bank would sign the voucher. “ The banks apparently believe that if they take care of the pence the dividends will take care of 'themselves,” the customer said.

Mr. Ben Roberts sustained a nasty accident on Sunday while mending a puncture in a tyre of his car. Finding that his jack was not raising the car sufficiently, he inserted a pole beneath the car to act as a lever and had just reached up to the end of the piece of wood to exert pressure when he was stricken down with a ricked back. The accident was a peculiar one in that Mr. Roberts had not exerted any strain, yet he fell helpless to the ground, where he had to seize hold of grass tufts to turn himself over. His calls brought his son to his assistance, and when he was lifted to his feet it was found that he was unable to get down again. Mr. Roberts was put to bed. where he lay helpless for several days. He is now progressing as satisfactorily as can be expected.

Do not fail to hear Mr. Williams, a drug fiend who spent eight years in gaol, telL.pf his transformed life* at the Presbyterian Hhll on Sunday next, 8.30 p.m.*

Several residents of Putaruru have relatives in Napier and Hastings, and among those who left on Tuesday night for the stricken area were Messrs. J. R. O. Lochhead, R. T. Smith and A. L. Mason.

A Taranaki farmer who had a clump of pinus insignis on his property sawed the trunks into lengths for a sawmill and the rest into firewood. The cash return was over £250.

Practical preference for British goods was shown by the Thames Valley Electric Power Board when considering tenders for the supply of 100 time switches. British-made switches were decided on, although the price was slightly higher than that of Swedish switches.

Good work is being done with the electric truck which has been used by the Thames Valley Electric Power Board for the treatment and overhaul of transformers on the power lines. The truck, which looks like a caravan, contains the electrical apparatus required fop' the overhaul of transformers, and repairs can be effected on the spot without the need for taking the transformer back to the board’s workshop.

“ There is a certain amount of feeling on the Hauraki Plains that the Power Board should practice more economy,” said Mr. E. L. Walton, the newly-appointed representative of the Hauraki Plains county on the Thames Valley Electric Power Board, when acknowledging the chairman’s welcome at the Febiuarj meeting. “ For myself I cannot say whether that is just criticism. Time will show whether that is so or whether I shall take back a message that all is well.” < .7-,

“ Now and then we get a nosegay instead of a kick,” remarked the chairman of the Thames Valley Electrie Power Board, Mr. F. M. Strange, at the February meeting when a letter from the Tirau branch of the Women’s Division of the Fanners’ Union was received expressing thanks for the demonstration of cooking with an electric range given at Tirau in December. Members of the branch were particularly pleased with the pleasant way in which the board’s officers carried out the demonstration.

“ I must congratulate you on the reduction of costs both to the board and its customers by the adoption of the meter system,” wrote one Morrinsville dairy farmer in a letter received at the February meeting of the Thames Valley Electric Power Board. He added that he was milking 100 cows with a two-horse-power motor, and the cost for the first year on meter had been £3l Is, while on flat rate it would have been £44 Is. His total bill for power and light was now £46 12s, against £65 3s /a on the flat rate.

“ The banks do not want money to go to Australia,” and a financial institution “wants its money out of Australia,” were statements made at the Thames Valley Electric Power Board’s February meeting when notification was received from an Australian lending institution that the board could remit its interest to Wellington instead of Sydney in future. The manager explained that in the past the board had paid exchange to remit money to Australia, but now that the exchange was in favour of New Zealand the banks would not give customers the benefit of this, as they wanted to keep money in New Zealand. The Australian companies wanted to keep their New interest in New Zealand.