EXTENSION OF POWER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21346, 22 November 1932, Page 9

EXTENSION OF POWER

REQUEST TO WAITEMATA

MATTER FOR GOVERNMENT

A joint application for the alteration of the present boundaries of the Waitemata Electric-Power district so as to include two additional areas was received * at a meeting of the board yesterday. It ' was requested' that the Governor-General should be petitioned to proclaim the alterations of the district so as to include the town district of Warlnvorth and the county of Rodney. "The proposal to join up with this district is not a matter for the board," stated the report of the chairman, Mr. W. R. T. Leighton, which was adopted. "The areas in question could by petition to the Governor-General, ask for inclusion and for the present power district to be altered accordingly. The matter of representation is also one for decision by the Governor-General."

The chairman's report also stated that as a supply could not be given by extending the board's present 11,000-volt lines into the district, it would be necessary for a line of higher voltage to bo constructed. The board would not be prepared to erect this line, and as provision had been made by the Public Works Department to erect a 110.C00volt line from Henderson to a point in the Whangarei County in the future, it would be a policy matter for the Government, provided the revenue warranted it, to erect the proposed 110,0C0-volt lino as far as Kaipara Flats and give the district a point of supply there. The lino had already been surveyed.

The proposed extension of electric-power lines to Silverdale was the subject of a report from the secretary of the board, Mr. A. Main. "I would recommend to the board that the proposed extension bo not authorised until prospects of further revenue improve," the report stated. The board decided to receive the report. As the result of a recent canvass in . the Silverdale district, / the report continued, guarantees totalling £240 net were received from nine residents cf Silverdale and seven farmers. A few consumers might be obtained later, but even allowing for those being connected at a later date the deficiency would still be considerable. It was stated that tho estimated cost of extending the reticulation to Silverdale as far as Green s Store, connecting up with tho 11,000-volt system at Kaukapakapa and giving a supply to the guaranteed consumers, was £3IOO. The revenue return was onlv 7.8 per cent net of the capital expenditure, a deficiency of 10 per cent of the percentage required. V *