SUPPLY OF POWER.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 December 1924, Page 10

SUPPLY OF POWER.

TARANAKI BOARD MEETS. DEVELOPMENT AT TARANAKI. REPORTS BY ENGINEERS. (From Our Own Reporter.) Eltham, Dec. 15. The monthly meeting of the Taranaki Electric Power Board wag held to-day for the first time in the board-room of the board’s new 7 building at Eltham. Present: Messrs. H. G. Carman (chairman), T. R. Anderson, W. H. Were, C. E. McGuinness, J. L. Campbell and V. Harkness. The engineers (Messrs. H. W. Climie and Sons) reported on the hydro development as follow: Main Tunnel.—This tunnel is now driven 1608 feet, 577 feet having been driven during the month. Early in the month a seam of compressed sand was met with, ’ through which the tunnelling machine could bore as fast as the material could be trucked away. The greatest progress in one day u'as sixty feet. During, the past ten days a seam of papa rock carrying stone has been encountered. This seam should be passed through before the holidays, and probably compressed sand, as is showing in No. 2 adit some twenty chains ahead, will be again met with. The tip head has been extended, and with the additional trucks that have been landed ex s.s. Orari there should be no delay in getting rid of the spoil such as was the experience last month. During the heavy rain , a slip occurred at No. 3 adit and demolished the blacksmiths shop, which has since been rebuilt.

Metal Supplies.—Two hundred and fifty yards of stone and about 150 yards of shell rock have been crushed and placed on the pipe line road. About 350 yards of stone and gravel, which has been collected, will now' be crushed. This quantity should almost complete the road. Arrangements have been made to obtain supplies of stpne from the Waitara River, by contract. This, when crushed, w’ill beused for concrete work and -road maintenance. For the pipe line anchor blocks supplies of shingle have been taken in by motor lorries when the weather and roads permitted.. Owing to the shortage of electric power, pending a supply from NewPlymouth, it was necessary- to purchase for £l3O a Fordson tractor to drive the crusher. This purchase will obviate the necessity of extending the transmission line two miles to the proposed crusher site on the Waitara River. Pipe Line.—Tenders will be called this coming month for the constructioa of concrete blocks and bolsters to support the main steel/pipes. A concrete culvert has been constructed by day labour to ca’.ry the road over this fifty inch pipe.

Contracts.—Messrs. Saxton and Co. Lave made fair progress with the exca/ation of the powerhouse site and lower’ pipe line. The spot is being used to form an embankment over the Motukawa strain to give access to the power house and pipe line. Progress on the Ratapiko Road deviation cannot be speeded up until the completion of the concrete culvert, the excavation for which is now completed. Mr. Lovegrove has made all preliminary arrangements and will commence the concrete work immediately after the holidays. Fair progress has been made in the work of enlarging and concreting the diversion tunnel at Ratapiko. This work should be completed by the end of January, the stream can be diverted and a start made with the dam embankment. The report was adopted. SUPPLY FROM NEW PLYMOUTH. The engineers’ reticulation report read as follow: Line Construction.—The high pressu r c line has been extended from Maketawa northwards to the New Plymouth borough’s sub-station at Inglewood, and coupled to the New Plymouth system. The high pressure line south of Tariki has boon completed through to Eltham via the Monmouth, Cardiff and Climie Roads. Poljes have been erected on the Mountain Road south of Eltham and on Mang?*whero Road. The wires, however, cannot be erected until over-hanging trees are removed. A number of . poles for conjumers’ services have been erected in the Tariki ’ifrea and a stigrt is being made on the Salisbury Read line in the north and on the Hastings Road- in the southern

New Plymouth Supply.—A supply from New Plymouth w-as given at the beginning of December, and since then has supplied the Maketawa area with the exception of temporary interruptions due to the gale on December 13. Although attempts have been made, it has been found inadvisable to couple this system to the Tariki supply until th c New Plymouth system is earthed. We learn that this will be done this week. Supply to Eltham.—The current from Tariki was put through via Cardiff to Eltham on December 11, and no faults developed till Saturday, when a defective insulator broke down in the morning and another late in the afternoon. Fortunately these faults wore located and remedied in time to permit a supply to the public in the evening. Since then, however, another fault has developed on the Cardiff section and has not yet been located. ThS alternative supply from the dairy factory was not available as the step-up transformer at the factory, though carefully dried out, broke dowm on Saturday afternoon. It i s expected that, the faults in both sources of supply will be rectified today, and the supply maintained to consumers. ROADS TO BE RETICULATEDt

During a discussion upon reticulatmn problems, Mr. McGuinness said that he understood that on a length of about two miles of the Hastings Road below the Eltham Road two property-owners were prepared to take power, and seven others would take light from the board. He asked what guarantee, if any, the board would require before undertaking the reticulation of a road. The speaker also mentioned that a number of people on the Hunter Road were anxious to obtain supplies of light and power. The chairman expained that in accordance. with the Act, the board was required to reticulate any road if those requiring installations were prepared to guarantee 20 per cent, for five years of the cost of construction. He pointed out that on a road three miles long a guarantee of six milking machines would warrant reticulation, provided they did not have to wire the last rjiile for only one plant. Mr. H. R. Climie, the senior engineer, suggested that a committee should be set up to decide which road should be reticulated. He thought each road should be considered on its merits having regard for ’ength, cost and probable revenue. Such a

committee, in his opinion, should meet periodically to consider reports of the canvassers and go into the question of costs. The chairman suggested that the wiring superintendent should furnish a report upon the work of the proposed committee. further discussion the work of investigating and authorising reticulation on various roads was delegated to the finance committee, tfife wiring superintendent to report periodically on the application and on the cost of the power required. Mr. Anderson suggested that canvassers be instructed to endeavour to arrange for the connection of the four or five houses which usually surrounded a dairy factory when making terms with the factory. He pointed out that a transformer would have to be installed for the factory, and the load might with advantage include any houses in the vicinity. POWER FOR STRATFORD. The agreement for ten years’ duration between the board . and the Stratford Borough Council for the supply of electrical energy in bulk was discussed and signed, the borough council being previously signed. The agreement comes into force ag from March, 1926, and deals with the supply of three phase current at 50 cycles per hour and 6600 volts, the council to pay £2 5a per quarter per kilo volt ampere of maximum demand, plus one-tenth of a penny per unit (K.W. hour) measured at the point of supply for the first five years. For the balance of the contract, the council shall pay £1 15s per quarter per K.V.A. of maximum demand, plus one-tenth of a penny per unit, the power and energy to be ascertained by a meter installed by the board at the distributing station, but the council may instal a meter of their own for purposes of checking the board’s instrument. In the event of the board being able to supply earlier than March, 1926, the contract shall date from such date, but should the board be unable to supply from its main Tariki generating plant by September 1, 1926, the council shall have the right, upon giving seven days’ notice in writing, to rescind the contract.

Pending the completion of the -main Tariki scheme, the board will endeavour to give the council a temporary supply of K.V.A. by June 1, 1926, and in the event of the board securing a temporary .supply from New Plymouth, or any other source other than those it at present has, the council shall be entitled to a first call thereon up to 50 K.V.A.- B /GENERAL. Messrs. Syme and Weir, solicitors,, for-, warded a copy of an agreement between the board and Wm. H. Williams, whereby the board is to take 140 acres at Ratapiko on section 7, block 7 of the Hawera survey district, the land to be converted into a lake. The chairman and secretary were authorised to sign on behalf of the board.

A copy of the address of the chairman of the - New Zealand Electrical Federation (Mr. J. M. Fleming) delivered at the last conference was received. In reply to Mr. Harkness, the engineer stated that he had not yet gone fully into the cost of the reticulation and could not. say how the expenditure would compare with the estimates. He would, however, bring down a report on the matter during the holidays. He d d not think there was at present any cause for alarm in the matter of over-expenditure. s? ...eg