THE BANQUET.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 130517, 20 January 1906, Page 2

THE BANQUET.

INTERESTING FACTS AND FIG URES. i SCHEME COSTS £ 12,000. - A representative company of about 50 guests were entertained at a . banquet in the Town Ball the same , evening, at the invitation. " of ' tHe •Brush Electrical Co. The Council Chambers were "gaily •decorated with 1 bun-ting for the occasion, and the ta Ibles were laden with <an excellent repast, Mr G. ' . Arrowsmit'h"bein i g the ca4 terer.l ' t ~ a: " ' ' V' " |, Mr Haes, of ike Brush 'Co., presided axwi the vice-chair was occupied by i-xie Mayor, who was accom- ; ponied by the Mayoress: The ohairniasn was supported by Mr E. M. Smith, M.H.R., dntl Cr Brooking, Chairman of ihs Electric Light Committee. After the loyal toast, / ' Mr Haes, in proposing "Success to the lighting Scheme," said that .the machinery! was now in full working order, and for -the first "H/ime on- . record, New Plymouth was ligtbted with electricity. He hoped the light would continue . to 'burn for m<any yeai^s as brilliantly ■as they had witnessed that evening. Without, 'being egotis- , tical, he could tell them as an im : partial critic that the plant install©:! in New Plyiuouth was one ,of the very best in New Zealand. He expressed » confidence that the citizens would realise they had a -good installation, controlled by expert officials, and' ! under good, municipal management. (Applause). ■ The* 'financial success or otherwise of the undertaking rested entirely with the ratepayers. The town was endowed with a splendid source of water supply to drive the turbine machinery^ and the only cost of distributing the light was for wages |md salaries. It would cost no more to run the plant at its full capacity than at «' half pressure. A plant three times the size could be worked at practically the same cost. He thought that with efficient management there could be no doub^t about the success % of the scheme. "(Applause) . With regard to the nett cost of sixpence per unit, this was only one pennj' higher than in the big cities like Melbourne, where gas was , only -half the price charged here per thousand. In Wellington' the average price per unit was ninepence, or 50 per cent, higher than in New Plymouth. A striking proof of its popularity was _that in, Wellington the number of electric lights in proportion to population "was the highest in Australasia. In "conclusion he wished the Borough -every success in its L undertaking. '(Applause.) > SPEECH BY THE MAYOR. , The Mayor* acknowledged the toast, adding that an important consideration to the ratepayers was tbat 6f cost, and there had been numerous enquiries lately. He quoted ibhe case of a reliable 1 gentleman, in Wellington, known locally, who that at one 1 shilling per unit electric light could be more economically used' than, gas. In Wellington the charge was Is, discount! only being allowed to those who used < over 5s worth of current for the months. In New Plymouth the cost is, to be 8d per unit with, a discount 4 of 2d per unit if the account be paid -[before the 25th of each month, the minimum charge being 2s 6d per mdnth. According to the graduated' scale /in Wellington a person had to use something like 300 unitand over io get the electricity at a nett cost of s£d per unit. The cost of gas in Wellington, was 5» 3d to small consumers,, and in N«w Plymouth 7s lid. For electrical power

and heating the Council has decided .o charge 3d per limit, wil&, a" discount of Id, and the minimum charge . wi!l./be_ ,3s._#er^month.. For,..theu...usaJ of meters 6d, 9d and Is per month J will be levied, according* to size. Continuing,, the Mayo.r dealt with the cost . .of. ihe_scheme. . Jt ..had-beenl saixLj that the scheme would, run. to £14,- ' 000. In a way>. hfr-admittedy-it-niigh-t be calculated at that . stun. Howaver, to malse ' ujj> I that j amount? .\t , least. one 7 tbird (£2400) of the. total cost of the tunnel would have to be charged t to the cost of the .ifectric lighting scheme. It was questionable whether it would be fair to charge this stun against the ■ Scheme, as the engineer had told him that the electric lighting water supply had made very little difference to the cost i of the waterworks tunnel. Excluding the £2400, the nett cost of the electric lighting installation^ was /, about, £11,600, in round numbers £12,000." It was immaterial whether -the electric light account bore its proportion of the cost of the tunnel or not ; the ratepayers had to find interest on the total amount of [' the various 7 loan moneys. Naturally the ratepayers would like to know what had made the work cost so much more than was originally estimated. The Mayor explained • that when Mr, Mestayer 1 was instructed to prepare an estimate some years ago, it provided for 70 street lights only. Since that time, however, there had been requests from all parts of the Borough for additional lights, and the Council was to-day paying the Gas -Co ..for 101 lamps. The emlarged plans, now completed, provided fofc 128 street lamps and eight arc lights to meet the growing demands. The additional lights ran into an expenditure estimated at £700, 'and the 150 extra poles cost approximately £500. Then again 'Mr Mestayer had estimated that the distributing station v would cost £100. The Council found 1 the original plan "totally inade<j^iate, as it was absolutely necessary to . have an office for the engineer and a store room for the plant which 'had to be on hand. This ran, the building up to, £350. With regard i o tne power house, also, the original, estimate was £500, but it had as a" matter of fact "run the Council into"" £1200. Tho first contract, without* ' extras, was £1080, so that 1 it was '-clear ; -Mr Mestayer was ver^"n^a*eriattypilis4lfay iii his 1 estimates. T&e Maybr thought iltnere was no* 'original' estimate of £6ti0,6 w^ula\ 'be^alaottt doubled by the ' complete worl& : The w o vk bad been ke£t#ia < ngs|ig£3sn the Councirs'hands for <p£ lpng",per-i©d,* f and; interest for the first yiea^b&d, ;to /be ohargfed to bapitaLrriAnotWgr item not provided- for in the original estiin? ates was private-lighting;- T-he~€©*«=r cil did not yet H kxtow what that would cost them, %ui|p||d made provision up to the presents to the amount of £350. He estimate^? th^f Me Council would be in debt <fn tbe completion of the works by. £9000. That was to say the Council would have to comcmence/the new financial year with a debit "of £2000, which wouldl have to bo provided for in a general' way. On the other band ttiere would be, a certain amount of front thej scheme,, and savings in different directions' on items, hie enumcra'fee'd that) formerly bad to 'be . psad' for- ThY Council would/n^t" ■K-ave'to Hand otttf something" like '^_j£36O ' ' for ' street and other lighting ,as in the past. . All these items would go to pay wage's and interest, and the more consumers the Council could ctotain. the easier it would be to pay the interest and wipe off the deficit. As they were aware' £"7000 was' originally rair s©d for the 'work, and' I «mbsequ<m'tly another £3600 was aslced for and sanctioned. It 1 was 'theh 'thought that the scheme , could be oarried oxit for this figure ; but as he htad cx 1 Iplaiwed, extensions kept being- applied for, and people could not expect to have all these luxuries without pay--ing for them. He truslted, with Mt D«es, that the time would come when the works must be enlarged to cope with , the demands upon them. The power t'bat day ~\yas only half the capacity of one turbine, so thajb ' for present re^ii^irements : the supply was ample. The power 'house was sp l arranged, however, tteat there wap room •to put in, .another machine iv . the future,-" and practically tKe power ' could be doubled, its present limit. at ' a cost of £1000. ' The Council would have pow«fr turned on durimg the day time to induce people to use it 4 or power. It was adapted for any kind of machinery, could.' b<^- used and turned off as- required, and only the , amount of current used was charged I for. In conclusion, the Mayor .thank- j \ ed Mr Hiaes' for his in'teresti'ttg invitations that day, and' the 'banquet he h-ad provided for the guests. TheMiyor added that he saw no difficulties in the way of success witt <ihe flighting- witK fair . co-operai/ion from .the ratepayers, ■an 4 be" agreed " that the Council bad a very capable staff.-(Ap-plause)". Cr Brooking proposed the health of the contractors, the Brush, Co., and, the sub-contractors, Messrs Steuart .and Fenn. They all felt confidant, lie remarked, that New. Plymouth had -a very good' electrical " installation.; , Moreover, the fmachinery was of reliable British manufascture. U

v Mr Haes, in responding, -mectioned. that part <?f the delay was caused by j j havings to procure 500 extr. a poles and .J sending -England .'lor material* He . tharjied ;-thie • (Mr Black) and th« Borough Engineer (Mr E. Hayv.ey. '(Jibfeon;) for the assist-|-ance afforded the contractors -in -every possible Away, whilst they at the same time had vigilantly safeguarded the interests of the pt^ic.^jHe-' also •acknowledged* >* ihi& *- adiii£ca i bl&'«ianner in which the sub^conrtractors^had •• 'car*ried out their workivWHe- also paid a tribute to Messrs Smart for their fine work in installing the light at the Town Kail. Ih conclusion, he cordially thanked those present for their attendance. ' , Mr Fenn, in responding for the subcontractors, mentioned that 7<tO poles .had -been required in iho work, '- apod 65 miles of wire was utilised^ 1 ; 1 J The gathering dispersed soon t after 10 p.-m. *• rt t ■ ' / f " j->.j -> .