ELECTRICAL ENERGY

Northern Advocate, 18 June 1925, Page 2

ELECTRICAL ENERGY

PROPOSED POWER BOARD

CONFERENCE IN WHANGAREI.

Yesterday morning a conference of delegates from the Whangarei County and Borough Councils and the Hobson Power Board took , place in the Council Chambers at the Whangarei Town Hall. The Mayor, Mr J. E. Holmes, j presided over an attendance of the j following:—Messrs J. H. McCarroll, J. A. McLean and G. G. Appleton, of the Board; W. Jones, H C. Hemphill and J" Norris, of the County Council; and A. D. Jack and W. J. Dawson, of the Borough Council. Mr A. Mam was secretary. The chairman explained that tat meeting had been convened at the invitation of the Hobson Power Board, which desired the local bodies to 30m in the formation of a Power Board district. He declared that as far as the Borough representatives were concerned they were listeners. Mr McLean said that the meeti g was the outcome of advice &»m the Minister of Public Wori*. I bers of the, Hobson Board they did nrftaow much about dectncty. However, all the advice they could) get from engineers was to the e e that it was desirable to have large power boards formed rather than a number of smaller ones. The Minister of Public Works mignt haye, gnren his ideas on the subject officially or unofficially, but he was favour of creation of lar&e In one instance such a board would include Hobson, Whangarei Otwnatea and Eodney counties. The spe took it that all were anxious to develop electricity throughout the Nort . He had been advised that the p from Arapuni would reach a station this ride of Load surveys were being made m Eodney, Otamatea and Hobson County, Jut until Otamatea had the load survey and came in, the Hobson County cou« not function at all. By e that a decision had been ma. e ■ Otamatea it was hoped tha ai S rei would also come in. Mr McCarroll also stated that the Minister had insisted that there ™ be large power boards. Rodney. County, for instance, could not possibly act alone in securing electrici y. It was not desirable, however to go farther North than Whangarei County in the formation of one group dls^ ICL '" If Whangarei County joined m t&ere would be a sub-station at Kinkopuni ttl's at Huarau. Mr McCarroll declared that -ember, had attended the conference with the idea of bem 0 of mutual assistance to one another. "The position is," said Mr Jack, chairman of the Whangarei Borough Council's electrical committee, that we have an electrical scheme which has been very profitable to us, am have contracts for supply for years to come. We do not wish to be too parochial, but before joining iiv anything, the Whangarei Borough Council will require to'know just how they will be affected." It seemed to him that if the borough were joined m one big board it would ipse its identity, and consequently its considerable profits would be gone, so that it must therefore be careful. e manager of Thames Valley Power Board had admitted that supplying electricity to farmers for power was dearer there than at Whangarei, where there was a compact- distnc with a system the value of which was £38,553, and where 879,010 units were purchased last year. The Government, said Mr McLean, had the right to resume the Wairua Falls scheme at. any time, and he asked if it were not evident that it was the intention to take over all

existing systems

Mr Jack agreed that that might be so, but Whangarei Borough was safeguarded by its agreement, and meanwhile the Portland Cement Company was willing to keep the borough as a customer, and would even double the steam generating plant there to do so, if necessary.

In further discussion it was stated that the Wairua Falls source of supply was utilised to the full extent, of its capacity. Although 3000 h.p. could be developed there, in summer it had at times dropped to 300 h.p. which was insufficient to supply the requirements of Whangarei Borough.

The chairman said that the great point was that the borough made a big profit out of the existing scheme and if it joined the Power Board district that profit would be lost.' He quoted the Thames, where there was a loss to consumers compared with having their own schcme.. Portland could supply the

Whangarei Borough more cheaply from its steam plant than from the Wairua Falls.

It was stated tluit if sufficient power were available at the Wairua Falls the Portland Company, tinder the terms of its license, had to supply Hobson with 250 h.p. and Whangarek,County with a similar quantity, hut as the Whangarei Borouo;;i had first call and the full volume was being used to meet its demand the Hobson delegates recognised that their rights were not worth much. Mr Jones said that the urrungem was useless to Whangarei County and that there were "some mugs about" when it was made. The history of the agreement was, said the chairman, that the Whangarei Borough Council lmd had the licnse and ha J arranged to have it trail ■- ferred to the Portland Cement Company conditional upon a guarantee .hat

the Whangarei Borough, requirements for 30 years would be met.

The price of electricity was discussed, Cr Jack stating that, on an equal basis, Whangarei Borough paid £8 8s 3d per k.w., whereas the charge to be made by the Government was, £10 for the first 200 k.w. and £8 afterwards, the Government readings being given every three months and the Council's yearly.

To Mr McLean it appeared that tlie Borough Council was not likely to want to join in the proposal, but he asked what about the County Council.

In reply Mr .Tones said that the answer was clear, as what was left in the county simply surrounded the territory covered by the borough scheme. If it were a risky undertaking in other places, where towns were included, to go in for power schemes, it must be more so for Whangarei County. The Whangarei Council scheme, said Mr Appleton, had picked the eyes out of the district so far as the proposal was concerned, and Mr Jones agreed that that was so, the profits to the Borough Council being the stumbling-block to any change

Referring to the effect upon staffs, Mr Jack said that it would be necessary in any case to have an engineer m Whangarei.

Mr McCarroll agreed that the Whangarei County Council was precluded from joining in with the borough, as there was insufficient energy at the Wairua Falls to give them a supply.

Mr McLean said that the Government was spending large sums of money on electricity and it was therefore necessary to get as many consumers as possible, but he did not want the district to be involved in a scheme which might 'b.3 unprofitable. The members of the Board did not know actually what they were taking on, and he considered that they should go carefully in the matter.

Mr Dawson explained what would be necessary in the installation as a result of the axiom that the higher voltage the lighter the cables. That was why it was necessary to - carry electricity at the higher voltages and to utilise transformers within two miles of sub-stations to break the current down.

At the conclusion of Mr Dawson's explanation, Mr Holmes said that the discussion had simply shown how highly technical the subject was. Mr McLean described the circulars which lx&d been circulated by the Hobson Power Board in the effort to ascer-

tain the likely consumption of elec-

tricity in the Hobson district. The scheme was not working too well, as

some settlers held the erroneous opinion that it might be committing them to something if they supplied the data required. He thought a better scheme could be evolved to gather the information from which to make a load survey.

Mr Jones moved that the Minister of

Public Works be asked to send the chief electrical engineer to the North to discuss the matter at another conference. It was ■ from the engineers that ail information would be obtained. As for the Whangarei County, he did not know what the ratepayers would sav,-.but he would take steps to place the matter before them.

Seconding the motion, Mr McLeiin declared that all were anxious to gain

more information. Whangarei Boro.igh

was in a different position from Dargaville, 6s the former had a good electricity servic-e. whereas the western centre had not any. He wished to be readv to explain the subject to ratepavers when the time came. The motion was carried and on the motion of Mr McLean, seconded by Mr

•McCarroll, a vote of thanks was accorded the chairman.