ELECTRICITY AND TRAMWAYS

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1933, Page 7

ELECTRICITY AND TRAMWAYS

THE BOROUGH OF NEW PLYMOUTH COMPARISON OF CHARGES MADE. I ' “Both- departments have made steady progress, and while it is pleasing to re- • port the good year, experienced by-the electric light department, it is equally pleasing to report that the rapid decline in tramway revenue seems to have been arrested,” said Mr. P. E. Stainton, chairman of the electric light and tramways committee of the New’ Plymouth Borough Council, when addressing electors ' last night. The following electric light department figures were given for the years 1923, 1932 and 1933 respectively: Units generated, 4,013,800, 15,904,370, 16,448,470; units sold, 2,596,300, 13,232,571, 13,743,017; revenue received, £26,319, £73,175, £70,409; wages paid, £5971, £15,820, £11,940; nett profit, £4796, £15,896, £17,700. “It will be noted that the revenue this year £70,409 as compared with the previous year £73,175, shows a decrease of £2766 Ils 5d,” continued Mr. Stainton. “The decrease in revenue received was the result of reduced charges, including the 6d a month''per meter, as additional discount and. reduced minimum charges. Compared with. 1923 the units sold -in 1933 were about five times greater and the profit about 34 times greater. The charge per unit in 1923 was 6d plus 5s meter as compared with 6d per unit in 1933.”

A certain amount.of'criticism had been levelled against the council by some Labour candidates on account ,of the transfer of £5OOO from the electric light profits towards the .relief of ..rates, said Mr. Stainton. It was the duty ,of the council to see that the charges made were reasonable and probably the fairest way to arrive at that point' was to compare the local, charges , with other towns and also the four main towns in New Zealand.

The figures as compiled by. the Electric Supply Authority Engineers’ Association of New Zealand, 1932,. were: New Plymouth 6d per unit, Ashburton Bd, Cambridge 7d, Central Hawke’s Bay 9d, Hamilton sd; Hastings 7d, Napier 6d, Nelson 6d, Manawatu-Oroua 7d, Palmerston North 6d, South Taranaki Power Board 6d, laranaki Power Board 6d, Timaru 6d, Wanganui-Rangitikei sd, South Canterbury Bd, Stratford Bd, Waitemata- 7d. Main towns: Auckland sd, Wellington sd, Christchurch 4.5 d, Dunedin sd.

In comparison it was obvious that the New Plymouth charges were reasonable, commented Mr. Stainton; He would remind Labour candidates that-the ratepayers of the town had mortgaged their properties to the extent of • £355,997 to make the electric supply available, and seeing that neither Mr. Flood nor Messrs. Thome and Lawrence were ratepayers and therefore were under no responsibility for capital payment of loans raised or loss should any disaster overtake the works, they and other non-ratepayers surely, could not complain about the ratepayers being reasonably protected.

The growth of the electric fight department was further demonstrated by the following figures for the years 1923, 1932 and 1933 respectively: Consumers, 3400, 6740, 6937; ranges, 201, 889, 921; . water heaters, 81, 917, 972; motors, 198, 945, 1028; miles of lines, 75, 295, 300; miles of lines outside borough, 12, 195, 200; consumers outside borough, 40, 980, 1000. On April 1, 1933, electric light loans amounting to approximately £300,000 fell due. Against that amount, sinking funds of approximately £67,000 were in hand. For the difference and for’ the many other loans of the borough that matured on the same date , a new loan of -£553,000 was being raised. There appeared to be no doubt that on the raising of the loan the interest bill of thie borough would be reduced. As far as the electric light part of the loan was concerned the saving in interest and sinking fund' was estimated to be between £5OOO and £6OOO a year.