SHORTAGE OF POWER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19136, 2 April 1924, Page 7

SHORTAGE OF POWER

POSITION STILL ACUTE. RESTRICTIONS INCREASED. TRAM SERVICES CURTAILED. NO GARS ON SUNDAY. A 'ittle rain fell in Iho city yesterday , afternoon, but it did not last long enough to do any good. It had tho effect, of making some of the streets very slippery, with the result that several horses.-fCth/ but as far ae an improvement of the water supply was concerned, the fall was negligible. Rain fell at Waipori for .about half an hour, bir there was not nearly enough to ease the situation in regard to the necessities of the power supply,' In conversation with one of our reporters yesterday, the town clerk (Mr Lewin) stated th*s chief source of anxiety was in connection with water for the generation of power at \\ aipori. I here was not, nearly the same anxiety TVijili regard to water for domestic purposes, although in this cdpnection ihe need -for the greatest possible! conservation was,,extremely urgent. So far as could .. ,be ascertained, the people were doing their best to reduce the consumption as much as possible, and if rain fell within tlu» next few days everything vrould be all right. If the dry weather continued- for any length of time, however., furjther restrictions would be imperative. THE TRAM SERVICES. FURTHER RESTRICTIONS. On Monday night several extra .car* were cut out, and ■ additional reduction* in the services yesterday enabled a saving in power to be effected All the services were hour earlier than usual last night It was decided yesterday to impose further restrictions on the use of electricity by running the tram services on the power generated by the Deisel engines. The effect of this will be the services in question will be very much restricted. The details have yet to be arranged, bub they will be made public to-morrow. A a far as can be seen at present no difficulty. Will be experienced in dealing with the traffic during the slack times, but it willprobably be impossible to put sufficient cars on* to cope with the usual number of passengers during the rush hours, 'fcay~l from 7 till 9 a.m., noon ti11‘2.30 p.m., and 4 to 6 p.m. It has also been decided- completely to suspend the tram sendees on Sunday. This is due to the fact that, the .gngines have to be over-looked on tho i 'day named;****, they cannot be run lor the : full seven days*jn the week. The decision ; to use th© Deisel engines exclusively for the trams is accounted for by the fact that from a technical point of view there are many difficulties in the way of running them in conjunction with power from) Waipori. An urgent request has been made to shopkeepers who have been using electricity for the purpose of illuminating their -windows after closing hours to dispense with ihat luxury, and apparently most of them have agreed to the request. If any trouble is experienced in ibis respect action will be taken by the authorities, whose desire is that as much power as possible may be made available for industrial purposes. This applies also to advertising signs outside buildings. : In conversation with a member of. our staff last night, the tramways manager (Mr Mackenzie) stated that considerable • trouble was being experienced 'by the motormen owing to motorists failing'to dim their lights when meeting tramcars. Owing to the streets being in darkness, tho dazzling headlights on motors mads matters very awkward for tho motormen, said Mr Mackenzie, who expressed - "the hope ihat the drivers of oars would do everything possible to enable the tramway employees to carry out their duties, under the best conditions possible. " POSITION AT WAIPORI. J The city electrical engineer (Mr M.' O. " Henderson) reported last night that the load yesterday was practically the 1 same as it was on Monday. On Monday night the consumption was lowered a little when* the domestic load was on, and with the much-apprecrated economy in household lighting the absence of lights in the shops, and the cutting out of the street light- ■ ing there was a distinct saving. Tho Lake Louden storage is, however, fast, vanishing. So far as the electrical engineer can see, this dam will be practically empty by the end of the week, . and then there will be nothing available but the river supply, which is rapidly shrinking. “There is only one thing for it,” added Mr Henderson, “If the users will volun- , tarily economise rigidly we may be able ' to keep going in a way and save cutting out circuits. If they" do not, there .3 nothing for it but to make localities do without the power. Some of the bigger consumers are making preparations to cut off a considerable part of the load by running stand-by plants, and ( a number of them have already made a start in this direction. THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.. CLOSED DOWN IN EVEJHNf/s. "“It was decided yesterday to close down, the free public library for the evening hours as a means of reducing the con, sumption of electrical energy. OREDCE VULCAN STOPPED The chairman of the Harbour Board has issued instructions for the temporary closing down of the dredge Vulcan m order to' conserve the power as much as / possible. This dredge, on which only a few men are employed, requires a lot of power, which will now be available for use in factories where many' - hands will be benefited The action of the chairman does not involve the cessation of dredging, but while the Vulcan" is out of commission the material lifted from the harbour will have to be taken to sea.