Metal Conduit Not to be Used

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 49, 26 February 1941, Page 8

Metal Conduit Not to be Used

SUBSTITUTE IN WOOD HASTINGS, Feb. 25. compulsory use of a substitute for metal conduit, except ii- specified circumstances, is declared in a recent notice given by the Ministry of Supply k> electricians. The measure is aa emergency one under the Building Emergency Reulations 1939 and is brought about by the advice from Great Britain that the export of conduit from that country is prohibited. The notice has caused no little disturbance in the electrical trade, especially in Hastings, where it appears that since taking over the electric supply in the Hastings borough the Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board has been condemning the very casings usee, as conduit and ordering that the metal conduit be installed. "I have scores of notices now from house-owners who have been instructed to rewire, their premises,” said one Hastings electrician this morning. He said that only a week before the new regulation was announced he had completed the change-over from wood to metal for one woman. ‘‘She actually had not received the account for the work,” he said. "Had it been held ovci for a little longer, there would have been no necessity for it to have been done.” Supplies of the "cap and casing” conduit are limited at present, but it is not expected that this problem will be for long, as it is understood that a firm in Dannevirke is specialising in this particular need. One point mentioned by an electrician, however, is that the regulation makes no mention as to the quality of the wood to be used. There was a possibility that objection might be raised to the use of wet or 08. rimu or pine for the conduit in wellbuilt houses of heart rimu. Another aspect of the circular lettei that prompted comment was that the definition of where and where not the substitute must be used is not precise enough. "We have enough trouble with the Power Board inspectors now, without adding to the confusion,” declared one man. "Each inspector has his own idea as to the interpretation of the regulations, and the need for uniformity has always been a pressing one here.” The electrician referred to the final paragraph of the circular letter, which was to the effect that a breach of the regulation laid the offender open to a maximum penalty of £IOOO. "There are some heinous crimes that don’t carry anything like the same punishment," he remarked. The introduction of the "cap and casing” conduit is no new thing, for a similar measure had to be taken during the last war. Indeed, the majority of the premises that are now being condemned by the Power Board are those that were wired during the last war.