THE ELECTRIC LIGHT IN OUTRAM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2370, 3 August 1899, Page 28

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT IN OUTRAM.

INATJGUBAL BANQUET.

It is now two years since the ratepayers of Outram gave their sanction to a scheme for lighting the town with electric light.- The originator of the scheme was Mr W. E. fiichardson, the proprietor of the Glen Roller JPlour Mills, said it is almost solely due to this gentleman's efforts that the Outram Town Board were induced to comprehend the practicability of the proposal. He was given a free hand in the matter of carrying out all the arrangements, and established his electrical station at his mill in the Glen, about it mile from the town. Whare ■Greek, from which his power is derived, is led by a water ?aoe to a point on a hill overlooking the mill, from where the water is carried by 1000 ft of pipes down into the valley. These pipes are capable of discharging water at the rate of 140 ft per minute, but at present are only ased to tbe extent of 14ft, which gives 1000 revolutions of a Belton wheel per minute. The dynamo is placed in an adjacent building, and is worked directly from the Pelton ■wheel. It is estimated to generate sufficient electricity for 60 lights of 16 candle-power each, but up to the present time only onethird of the power has been utilised. From this station the electricity is carried by wires to the township, wliere it lights the streets with 11 lamps of 32 candle-power. The light is good and steady, and, as the system has been in successful operation for two months, it may fairly be said to be established. In addition to making use of electricity for lighting, Mr Richardson has also harnessed it to the task of pumping the water supply for the town. The pumping machinery lor this purpose was formerly driven by steam, and the improved method has been found more efficient and less expensive titan the old one. Last week, however, the weather seriously hampered the smooth working of the plant. >Th« severe frosts experienced all over the province were as keen at Outram as elsewhere, and_ froze the water in the race, so that the initial force was suspended. The recurrence pf such frosts will, of course, always have to be reckoned with, and this may prove a serious difficulty in tbe -way of establishing Bimilar modes of lighting in other parts. S^ill, as far as this country is concerned, it is patent to whoever cares to reflect on it that unlimited uower is going to waste in tlie

streams and rivers all day long, and that the cost of using high-level streams for the generation of electricity is a very inexpensive one. The practical demonstration afforded by Mr Richardson's method of working in Outram may lead the way to the adoption, of electricity as a lighting and motive power in other centres, and it is probable that Mosgiel will be the next to consider the proposal. THE BANQUET. ' 1 A banquet to celebrate the success of the experiment was held in the Societies' Hall, Outram, on Friday night. Host O'Keeffe was entrusted with the dinner, to which about 50 ladies and gentlemen sat down. Mr W. Snow (chairman of the Town Board) presided, and was supported by Mr C. Samson and Mr J. Grant (town clerk). Mr A. Chisholm (chairman of the Taieri County Council) was vice-chairman, and he was supported by Mr James Blair (ex-president of the Taieri Agricultural Society. There were also present — Messre W. E. Richardson, J. M. Gallaway, H. V. Fulton, J. Bramble, John White, W. Grant, A. Hastie, D. Carmichael, A. Bathgate, T. Johnstone, Black, J. A. Duff, M. Carmichael, R. Scott, J. Buchanan, D. Esplin, John Blair, G. Rutherford, James Donald, J. Baxter, J. Dow, and Dr Cattan, Mesdames Ohisholm, Snow, Rutherford, Scott, Richardson, Neill, Cattan, Hastie, Low, and Miss Dale. The Chairman read apologies from the Mayor of Dunedin (Mr Swan) and members of the City Council. Mr W. Carncross, M.H.R., wrote regretting his absence, and wishing the gathering every success. The dinner having been disposed of and the toasts of "The Queen " and " The Governor " duly honoured, Mr Duff proposed " The Government of New Zealarad," coupled with the name of Mr Charles Samson. Mr Samson, in reply, 6aid that he had no idea lhat he would be called on to respond to this toast, or he would have come better prepared. He expressed his pleasure at being present, and congratulated the Town Board on the magnificent light they bad the town lit with, and on being situated in the happy position of having a nice cheap power to run a dynamo. He further congratulated them on having a gent/lemon like Mr Richardson among them, who knew how to use that | power and put it into working order. They were certainly unfortunate that night in havj ing the plant stopped by bad weather, but that was a difficulty easy to overcome. It was only under great difficulties that Mr Richardson was able to produce any light at all that night ; but it was there, and giving | every satisfaction, and he believed it had come to stay. He did not know why hie name had been coupled with the toast. He certainly i believed in a great deal that tho Government had done, but he also believed in a great deal that they had not done. Probably they had given that toast to him to respond to because it had leaked out that he was-going lo corns before them to ask them to return him to Parliament. — (Mr Snow: "We want to find out whether you are the right colour or not.") j He would take another occasion to enlighten them on the views he held in. regard to the Government. — (Laughter and applause.) tn proposing tho health of the contractor (Mr Richardson), the Chairman said that when their town waß first brought under the Town Districts Act they had a revenue of £200 from licenses — four publichouse and one bottle license. This money -was deposited in one" of the banks until it accumulated to the amount that they thought was sufficient to give .the people of Outram a. supply of water. Their electric light and their water supply had been got from license fees. They sent a bottle of the water to Professor Black ! for analysis, and he said that it was the purest water for a town supply that ho had yet tested. At the time Outram came under the Town Districts Act they had five licenses and a revenue of £200. Now they had only two licenses, with a revenue of £80 instead of £200. He had gone through the records of the court to see what the effect of this had been, and he felt disappointed at the result. He found that from 1885 to 1592, j when they had ifive licenses, there wero 28 convictions for drunkenness. From 1892 to 1899, when they had only two licenses, the number was 40. In view of these figures, he said that he was convinced that it was not the number of licenses that caused drunken- ! ness, but the reverse. In the same proportion, if they came dovyn ±o one license, they might expect the convictions to number 80. — (Laughter.) It gave him the greatest pleasure to propose the health of the contractor, and he was proud that they had a, man of Mr Richardson's calibre in tho district. When the proposal to adopt electric light was first mooted, Mr Richardson came to him and said that he was prepared to drive their pumping machinery and give them electric light for the same cost as was required to work the then existing system . It would cost them nothing to make the ohauge, and he would pay for all the wear and tear and expenses. They had accepted his tender, and he {the speaker) was proud to say Mr Riohardson hod exceeded expectations. Mr Richardson would be heard of again later on, as he (Mr "Snow) was convinced that they | had in the vicinity of Outram enough water power to supply Dunedin and Moßgiel with lighting and motive power. He only hoped they could induce some manufactories to ! come out there and start operations. I Mr Richardson thanked the company very ; ffinoerely for the enthusiastic manner in which his health had been drunk, and he felt that he was undeserving of the kind remarks of the chair1 man and others. He said that a great deal of credit was due to the Town Board, from whom he had had every encouragement and assistance in carrying out the work. Frequently town boards and borough councils were very difficult to move in matters of this kind. He had also to thank the ratepayers for turning out as they did to vote for the proposal. He would like to point out that although their town was lighted by electricity, if the thing was looked at from the proper point of view, it might mean the development of the plaoe. He had always had the idea that the water power in the neighbourhood should be made U6e of. They had a very much larger amount of water power than most places had. Although in Outram this transmission of power by electricity was new, it was a very common thing in America and other parts of the %vorld, especially in Switzerland, where, like New Zealand, they had any number of mountain streams to get their power from. To Americans the idea of bringing electric power to Dunedin from Lake Wanaka would be a very simple matter. As far as Outram was concerned, there was sufficient power close by to drive large factories, and he sincerely hoped that in a short time there would be a com•nittee appointed to investigate the matter. He would like to see the prospectus issued of the Outram Electric Light and Power Company. The chairman had said that brains srere required to introduce electric power to Dunedin. He thought that it was not so much a matter of brains as money, and he would like to see some of their

capitalists provide the money for this Vfty.ture. Although he was not one of tLo-.. 1 © who had any ill-feeling towards capitalt*U, — and, in fact, he would not mind being a capitalist himself, — still he liked to see a capitalist use his capital so as to enable his less fortunate fellows to get a living. One of the first requisites in any undertaking was motive power, and if they had chea? 1 motive power they would soon have factori^i. It only wanted energy to get the thing going, and he hoped it would be clone shortly. Other toasts honoured during the evening were — " Local Bodies," proposed by Mr Rutherford and responded to by Mr Samson ; " The Education System," proposed by Mr Fulton and responded to by Mr Gallaway; "The Agricultural and Pastoral Interests," proposed by Mr T. A. White and responded to by Mr James Blair ; ." The Mining Interests," "The Press," " The Chairman," and " The Host and Hostess." Songs were rendered during the evening by Mrs White, Miss Dale, and Messrs White, Johnstone, Black, Chisholm, and Thomson. The singing of "Auld Lang Syne" concluded the function about 11 p.m. After the banquet was over a number of those who had partaken went down to the "Volunteer Hall, where a ball, which was also' part of the inauguration celebrations) vas taking place. Good music, combined with an excellent floor, had resulted in spirited dancing, and all present appeared to be enjoying themselves to the full. The breakI up took place at a late hour.