ELECTRICITY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3799, 24 August 1936, Page 4

ELECTRICITY

TE AWAMUTU POWER BOARD. AUGUST MEETING. Mr J. T. Johnson presided at the usual monthly meeting of Te Awamutu Electric Power Board on Friday, and also present were Messrs W. J. North, J, G. Sutherland, A. L. Storey, N. M. Lethbridge, and S. C. B. Macky. The secretary-manager (Mr D. T. B. McArthur) was in attendance. Leave of absence was granted to Messrs J. C. Montefiore and J. B. 7 easdale.

The District Public Trustee, Hamilton, wrote asking for an assurance, r ethe depreciation fund, that the original value of the reticulation which it was proposed to renew was at least the amount which the Board now desired to withdraw from the fund, namely, £lOOO. A later letter acknowledged receipt of the assurance, and advised that the Public Trustee had approved the release of the £lOOO applied for. The chairman remarked that that was satisfactory. The matter of reticulating a further area of Te Pahu district was left in the hands of the chairman and the manager with power to act. A budget of remits to be dealt with at this week’s annual conference of the Power Supply Authorities’ Association was received. Some of the remits affect Te Awamutu Board, including the standardisation of Public Works Department charges for bulk supply and the effect of recent labour legislation. The Board appointed the chairman (Mr J. T. Johnson), the secretarymanager (Mr D. T. B. McArthur), and the engineer (Mr E. Bryant) to attend the main conference and subsidiaries.

The Dominion manager for Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd., wrote: “ You will no doubt have noted with interest the announcement in the newspapers to the effect that one of the northern power boards is contemplating at an early date fitting its breakdown lorries with radio telephony to speed up repair work. The announcement has also been made that the Post and Telegraph Department is prepared to license the power board for this work. We feel sure .that any means of cutting down delays consequent upon power-line failures will be welcomed by your Board, and if you will favour us with particulars of the extreme distances over which your Board would desire communication in such case, and also the nature of the country, we shall be very happy to get our technical section to prepare a quotation. It would be of value if you advised whether communication would be desired only between headquarters—that is, fixed station and one mobile station, or between different mobile stations.” The chairman told members that the subject would be discussed at the Dominion conference this week, and he hoped to be able to report to next month’s meeting. He was confident that the system would become fairly universal before long, and added that son(e boards had already /installed the system. Te Awamtu Board’s staff had been experimenting with a set. The chief electrical engineer, Wellington, advised that the necessary permit in connection with the erection of the proposed 3300-400 volt line parallel with the Department’s 50 k.v. line at Kaipaki had been drafted for the Minister’s signature. There was no objection to the use of fivechain spans on this line provided regulation clearances were maintained. The inspector’s and the engineer’s monthly reports were read and adopted. When details of the revenue from sales of current were under consideration the manager remarked that there was a never-ceasing demand for new connections, and the staff was making every effort to cope with the demand. The figures for June were nearly £3OO above the total for June last year, and were a long way above those of previous Junes. Members commented on the sustained demand for electric stoves.