ALEXANDRA NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21244, 27 January 1931, Page 7

ALEXANDRA NOTES.

(From Ouk Own Correspondent.) ALEXANDRA, January 26. THE WEATHER. The weather during the last few days has been fine, with occasional showers. Thunder and lightning were very pronounced, especially in the Lauder districts, where a transformer. was fused, causing temporary inconvenietive to a power consumer. The Molyneux River, which rose eight feet at the beginning of the week, has fallen considerably, and from Saturday night to Sunday morning had fallen one foot. POWER BOARD. The monthly meeting of the . Central Otago Power Board was held in Alexandra on Friday. The chairman. Mr W. Bringans, presided. A letter was received from the Cromwell Borough Council stating that it understood the board was considering working the Cromwell district from Alexandra. This would have the effect of leaving that district without the services of a resident electrician. It was pointed out that this would be a serious matter for consumers at that end of the board’s district, and the board was asked to reconsider the proposals, and use its best endeavours to leave Cromwell and surrounding district with a , resident as in the past.— The board decided to make no alteration in the present arrangement in the meantime. The Teviot Electric Power Board wrote advising that the draft of a proposed letter to be sent to the Public Works Department in reply to its letter concerning the amalgamation of the two boards, had been discussed by the board, and approved, and the letter was forwarded for the board’s approval. —After a lengthy discussion the matter was deferred until the Teviot Board had been further communicated with. The engineer-manager (Mr A. E. Ellis) presented . his monthly report of the board’s activities, which was as follows: — Line work: During December the linesman erected services to two pumping outfits and one house. Changing transformer oil, cutting trees and general maintenance work had occupied the remainder of his time. High winds caused interruptions on the Cromwell circuit on one occasion, and on the Matakanui circuit on three days for quarter-hour periods. Wiring: New installation work was slack at present, and there was not sufficient to keep the assistant fully engaged. The Teviot engineer’s figure for the coming winter supply available to the_ Central Otago district was 400k.w., which was short of last winter’s loading. As the loading would not be less this winter, some increase in plant capacity was necessary to maintain the supply unless consumption during the peak hours could be reduced. Such a plant would not be an economical proposition, as it would be required only for half an hour a day on an average. During a recent visit of the engmeer-m----chief of the Public Works Department (Mr F. W. Purkert) an interview had been arranged between him and representatives of the board on the question of future power supply, and it had been decided that the time had arrived to prepare plans of all the available possibilities of supply with a view to selecting the cheapest and most suitable for the district. The position as to the present supply was that only the portion of the Roxburgh supply not used by the Teviot Board was available for Central Otago, and the Teviot Board and its engineer had made it plain that the Central Otago supply would decrease, as they found the power to be required by their own district. Regarding the matter of temporary supply to carry the winter loading over peak hours, the engineer-manager was instructed to go into the matter of supplementary plant in both oil and steam, and furnish a report to the next meeting of the board. Accounts amounting to £2004 12s were passed for payment. BOWLING. The first matches of the second round of the Central Otago bowling tournament were commenced yesterday, when Alexandra played Cromwell, and had a win by 74 points to 73 after a very interesting game. PERSONAL. Mrs P. S. Brent and family are at present spending their holidays at Waihola. Mr F. H. Galley returned to-day after spending a holiday in ■ Southland. Mrs. Chapman, of Dunedin, is at_ present on a visit to Alexandra, and is the guest of Mrs J. Lunn. * Mr R. H. Foulkes, of' the Alexandra postal staff, left yesterday on his annual leave. Mrs C. M. Burgess and family are at present spending a holiday at Karitane. Captain White left Alexandra yesterday by air for Waikaia. He was accompanied by Mr H. Hesson, manager of the Alexandra Motor Co. Constable and Mrs Hall. o£> Middlemarch. spent a night in Alexandra on their way to the Lakes. Mrs D. Lyons, of Dunedin, is at present oh a, visit to Alexandra.