Power Famine

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 243, 4 January 1928, Page 8

Power Famine

CONSUMERS ON RATIONS Dead Wires in Many Areas THOUSANDS of power consumers, apprised this morning of trouble at Horalrora, received their intimation in drastic form. AVith Horalrora embarrassed by masses of rubbish carried down from Arapuni, and Iving s AA barf power wanted for the Auckland industrial load, many suburban and country districts had to be completely cut off.

A UCKLAND CITY, supplied by the powerful King’s Wharf station, is the only territory that has not suffered through the diversion of the Waikato over the Arapuni spillway. For country power boards the past few days have been a nightmare. The offices in most instances are closed down for the holidays, but when power was off the residences of engineers and other officials were deluged with complaints and inquiries. The farming community has wished wholeheartedly that Arapuni had never been thought of. Hundreds of dairy

farmers have been forced to handmilk tbeir herds, and some, unable to cope with the extra work (only a most expert milker can do more than six cows an hour), have been able to manage only one milking a day. In the Waikato a single farmer may have as many as 150 cattle in his herd. Hand-milking such a number is a laborious proc.ess, which explains the indignation of one farmer, who, anathematising Arapuni and all its works, complained to a power board official that he bad been unable to get breakfast until after mid-day. ESTIMATES ASTRAY Estimates of the inconvenience that would be occasioned by the diversion at Arapuni proved to be decidedly astray. At most, the official warnings issued beforehand said that consumers would be subject to a slight inconvenience, and they were urged accordingly to economise with their power.

| Not all the economies in the world. ! however, would have averted the i trouble created when the Waikato bouncing over soft country below the Arapuni spillway, sluiced away tons and tons of trees, rubbish, and scrub, which swept on to Horahora, and formed an impenetrable mass against the screens above the turbines. The period over which the inconvenience would extend was another direction in which the estimates miscarried. The trouble has already covered the specified three days, and may easily last until the end of the week. Below the Arapuni spillway, the river is still settling into its new course, and in doing so is eating away more fresh country, and carrying more rubbish down to Horahora. Since Sunday the efforts to keep the intake screens clear have been maintained ceaselessly, but with only minor success. Ordinarily a mechanical sweep arrangement rakes the grids in regular rotation, but since the latest developments, gangs of men have been kept going constantly, and have had to concentrate on clearing one set before they go on to the next. Working in shifts of seven, the men are on the job every hour of the twenty-four, but even at that not more than two turbines out of eight have been working at one time at Horahora since the first water went over the spillway. WHEN LIGHTS ARE LOW Such was the effect of the choking of the screens that the power output was reduced to a minimum, and even Arapuni, for the first time in the history of the contract, had to depend on candlelight. Auckland City, supported by the sturdy King’s Wharf steam plant, has so far suffered no inconvenience, and is unlikely to be affected. Some of the suburbs, however, had a taste of trouble this morning, when power was cut off from North Shore and the Henderson and New Lynn districts. Under an agreement with the Public Works Department, the Auckland Power Board feeds spare power back to Horahora, through Penrose, when the demand exists, and until this morning the arrangements substantially alleviated the power famine in the country districts. To-day, however, the big city factories reopened after the holidays, and King’s Wharf had less power to spare. As a result, the Franklin Power Board, with over 2,000 consumers, was completely cut off, and parts of the Waitemata Power Board’s area, including North Shore were similarly treated. Inquiries in outer districts disclosed that Te Awamutu Power Board Thames Valley, and the Central Power Board, Hamilton, have all suffered much inconvenience in the past four days, and that the dairying industry, with so many farms and factories dependent on electric power, has had an upsetting time.