POWER BOARD SUPPLIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19420, 31 August 1926, Page 8

POWER BOARD SUPPLIES

BRITISH TENDER AOOEPTEp. '•. " - ,* ' . GERMANS AGAIN COMPETE. HIGH QUOTATION RECEIVED. Another British tender for electric cable was accepted by the Auckland Electric Power Board yesterday. The only German tender was £4OOO above the lowest British tender, whereas the low quotations of German firms were features of other contracts.

The tenders were for .075 triple braided cable and 14 firms competed. The lowest tender, that of Marshall and Baxter, for cable manufactured by the Concordia Electric Wire Company of , Great Britain, £8585, was accepted. . This firm secured the two previous contracts. A number of British firms tendered for £9500 or thereabouts, but the German firm of Felton and Guilleaume, which submitted the lowest tender on the two previous occasions, quoted £12,100, with an alternative price of £II,BOB. The chairman, Mr. W t J. Holdsworth, expressed' surprise at the marked difference in the German tendering. Whereas, on the last occasion, the firm tendered £4OOO below the lowest British firm, it now quoted a figure which was £4OOO above. It supported the attitude taken up by some members that a discrepancy existed somewhere and justified those who had opposed the German tender without making an appeal to preference or sentiment. The general manager, Mr. R. H. Bartley, said copper had lately fallen in price and now stood at £SB 18s 9d a ton for electrolytic bars. This meant a reduction of £B' Is 3d a ton on the price quoted by the tenderers. It was decided to call for tenders for the supply cf meters. Mr. Bartley stated that for many years practically the whole of the board's meter requirements had been supplied by one British firm, and .the policy had been a wise one. Since then, however, other veiy reliable meters had com© on the market and the firms concerned desired an opportunity to tender.

It was stated that from £12,000 to £15,000 was spent annually on meters.