TARANAKI POWER BOARD

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1930, Page 9

TARANAKI POWER BOARD

'DANGER LIGHT AT RUGBY ROAD.

- NO FURTHER .WAGES CUT.

The • Taranaki Power Board received the a following report, inter alia, from the engineer :at the monthly meeting yesterday:— - The number of consumers at November 30 was 2098. Units'generated during the. month totalled 905,200. The largest daily‘ output wae. 32,000 units on the Bth arid 21st. The maximum demand of 2038 k.w. occurred on the 10 th and sth? Ngw Plymouth drew supply on 24 days. ?’ / “1/ ■■■ ‘ Installations connected during the month were' as. follows, figures for the corresponding period last year being given inparentheses:—Milking motors, 6 (12);' other motors, -6 - (4); stoves, 4 (4); water heaters,(l3); pumps, 1 (12) ;• lighting and heating, 21 (3fi). A short low pressure extension has been erected on Ratapiko' Road. Work on Wells’ bridge? was' .put. in hand, but the raising of the water level made it impossible to complete , the work. Twelve new services have’ been- erected during the month and alterations and adjustments made to four, services. ■ The Taranaki Automobile Association wrote asking , that a light be installed. ■ at' Rugby : Road crossing, which was dangerous. “In Hawke’s Bay they, have flashing lights at dangerous - places,”? said. Mr. Marchant.’

“A light ahead is of no advantage to a mbtorist at night,” said Mr. Knuckey. ’ “Quite a few cars have gone through the factory gate,”. said Mr? Dobson. It'was resblved to instal a lamp at an annual .charge of £4 10s, including maintenance and time switch. The chair- . man said.that the' question of a flashing (light was well worth investigation. On. the motion of . Mr. Moss it was resolved to furnish a return for next meeting of the total costs of tree-cut-ting operations since April T. The' question of wages of the staff was brought , up by Mr. Moss, who stated that other local bodies, were considering reductions. He thought it should be made known that in April a readjustment- of wages had been made by the board, and that no further reductions were to-be considered. He pointed out that a cut Of 5 per cent.- would mean a saving of only £320 per annum. This would be so small as to be of little relief ,to the ratepayers. He stressed the importance of treating the staff, which was not under arbitration awards, with complete fairness in regard to rates of pay. Mr. Marchant said that their readjustmentment of staff had meant a saving of about £lOOO a year. They took the step of making reductions ahead of other local bodies and it was unnecessary to make any further reductions.

The chairman said that further reductions had not been contemplated. ■Mr. J. D. McKay, Eltham, wrote thanking the board for their work in locating radio interference; He added that he would be pleased, at any time in future to assist in finding the cause of interferejice. He knew of no battery chargers of the type said to cause interference which were in use in the district. > ■ ■ ' " T -

The following members attended; Messrs H. G. Carman (chairman), W. Foreman, J. Dobson, R. J. Knuckey, C. E. McGuinness, M. J. Gernhoefer, N. H. Moss and H. J. Marchant.