POWER SUPPLY.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 March 1924, Page 10

POWER SUPPLY.

THE TARIKI SCHEME. I . GOOD PROGRESS MADE. MEETING OF THE BOARD. (From Our Own Reporter.) Eltham, March 19. The monthly meeting of the Taranaki Electric Power Board was held at Eltham to-day. Present: Messrs H. G. Carman (chairman), W. H. Were, C. J. Belcher, C. E. M’Guinness, T. R. Anderson and V. Harkness. The engineers (Messrs H. W. Climie and Son) reported as,follows: — Contract No. 2 —Notwithstanding that during the past month there has been a succession of five floods in the Manganui River, very good progress has been made with the construction of the Weir. This has now been built across the river to a height within four feet of the finished level, and it is hoped that another week's work will complete the structure. We are pleased to report that an excellent foundation was found at a depth not exceeding five feet below the bed of the river. Work at the temporary power house site was also delayed by the wet weather, but it is expected that, by working three shifts, this will be completed before next meeting. The turbines are on the site, and the and other necessary plant arrived at New Plymouth last week in the s.s. Maimoa. It is also expected that the work of concrete lining the water race from the gates to the temporary power house will be completed simultaneously with the erection of the power house. Contract No. B—The contractors are making good progress with this diversion tunnel, which is being driven through very good ground. •No timbering has been required, and about sixty feet has been completed to date.

Contract No. 27 —Messrs Lockhart and Sexton, contractors for this work, have completed the pipe, line excavation, to-' gether with the extension at the top end, with the exception of trimming up. It will be necessary to have the work of metalling the roadway up thfo line commenced as soon as possible. Arrangements were made with these contractors to make a temporary bridge over the Motukawa stream, and’ to form a service, road from the metal to the end of the pipe line on day wages. The same contractors have made good progress with the tail race contract. During the wet weather a fairly extensive slip came down this race, and Mr. Lockhart has offered to shift this for £25. This offer we recommend should be accepted. ■ We also recommend that afrangeraents be made for making the tunnel to carry the tail race under the high ground behind Mrs. Macßae’s house.

Contract No. 30—Messrs Baker and Brown are making excellent progress with the office buildings, and this week are engaged placing the it concrete roof. When this is completed they will not be able to do much more for at least four weeks, when the stripping of concrete can be commenced. As no arrangements have been made regarding shelving, etc., for both the offices and show room, we bug to recommend that quotations be called for supply of same and that it be of steel.

Specifications are prepared for calling tenders for carting materials from Inglewood to the power house site at Motukawa. We will be glad if the board will make the necessary application for a telephone at Motukawa, as thia will be most necessary when work u commenced at that end in a few weeks’ time. ‘ The report was adopted.

RETICULATION PROGRESS. The engineers’ reticulation report stated:— Poles —Four hundred iron bark desapped poles have recently been landed. Unfortunately the majority of them are light service poles, and not suitable for main lines. The lack of flat railway waggons han greatly added to the cost of unloading. We suggest that the railway traffic manager be formally approached and requested to supply suitable waggons, as is done in other districts. A proportion of the cables and bare copper wire has come to hand. No galvanised bolts and iron work have lieen received, and, until these are in sight, we cannot recommend that the work of erection can be commenced. The services of two experienced foremen, one for the southern and one for the northern end. are available. They will commence duties when sufficient materials are in .sight. It is proposed in the first place to commence the erection of the line between the Manganui power house and Motukawa. so that current will be available for driving the tunneling machine as soon as the temporary power house plant is in operation. It is prfipoaed to commence with the erection of the pole making depot at Tariki as soon a« possible. Mr. Belcher asked if the engineers were satisfied that the concrete poles were entirely satisfactory for the purposes of the board. He understood the post and telegraph department were replacing their concrete pole« near Stratford with wooden ones, as the concrete ones were not suitable.

The engineer (Mr. W. H. Climie) said the reason the department were removing their poles was because they were too ahort. They were also carrying a great many more wires than would be placed on the board's poles, and consequently experienced more wind pressure. From his observations, concrete poles were quite suitable for their purpose. The report was adopted. DEPOT FOR POLES. The Eltham Co-operative Dairy Company wrote agreeing to allow the board tc use their property and railway siding as a depot for poles and other materials. The company was also prepared to hire its concrete mixer to the board for about sfix weeks at a charge of 30s per week. In connection with the same matter, the railway department advised that instructions had been received to prepare a private siding agreement, granting the board the use of the Eltham dairy factory's private siding at the rental of £25 for siding access and £5 for railway land occupied by the siding. The chairman pointed out that, in addition to these charges, an arrangertient would have to be made with the ■dairy company for th? rental of their property adjoining the siding, as a fair area of ground was necessary to sort the poles and erect a derrick. He thought the railway department's charges were exorbitant. It was agreed that: the chairman and Mr. McGuinness be a committee to interview the dairy company on the matter with power to act. GENERAL. Writing in reference to previous corrsspcndeac* oa th« situatUou axis Ilog be*

tween the board and the Inglewood County Council, Mr. F. W. Furkett (engineer in chief to the Public Works Department), said he understood that at tt conference between representatives of the two bodies ami the department’s district engineer at Stratford, an amicable arrangement had been arrived at in connection with the question of the maintenance of the council’s roads which would be affected by ffhe board's trafiiic. No further action appeared to be necessary.—The letter WRa received and the action of the delegates at the conference was confirmed. It was reported that the basis of the arrangements, was that the power hoard be responsible for any upkeep of the roads over and above the average expenditure by the council for the past three years. The Opnnake Electric Power Board wrote drawing attention to correspondence with the Awatuna dairy factory, ,srhich was outside their area, but came the Taranaki board’s outer area. It was suggested that an arrangement might be entered into between the two boards, by which the Opunake board would supply power and light until the Taranaki board’s power was available. The chairman said their board would ultimately be taking over fhe Kaponga supply and. if the town board were agreeable, there could be no objection to Opunake supplying Awatuna in the meantime. Difficulty, however, arose from the fact that about 90 per cent, of the Awatuna people were ratepayers to the Egmont County Council and' believed in supporting the Opunakescheme. The Taranaki board, had thepower to supply power at Awatuna without referring the matter to he Kaponga Town Board, but it would be better to consult the Town Board, as the factory came within thejr licensing area. .Mr. Anderson said it seemed that the Opunake board was adopting grabbing tactics in placing a transformer right on their boundary. It was decided that, provided the Kaponga Town Board were agreeable, the board would offer no objection to the Opunake board supplying power in the meantime.