UNRELIABLE COLERIDGE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 24 June 1924, Page 6

UNRELIABLE COLERIDGE.

LETTER FROM PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT.

BOROUGH COUNCIL PASSES STRONG RESOLUTION.

The Timaru Borough Council is in receipt of a letter from the resident electrical engineer in charge of Lake Coleridge power station stating that Steps are being taken to increase the reliability of tlie Coleridge line; that the Department is considering the erection of a duplicate line from Windwkistie Point to Timaru, with suspension insulators, and that no second-hand insulators have been used on the present line, but several different makes of first class insulators were used with the object of at certaiuing which makes were most suitable in active service, and that all makes, with one exception, have proved satisfactory. At its meeting last night the Council decided that application should be made to the Minister of Public Works, for a concession in the charge for Lake Coleridge hydro electric power on the grounds (a) that the Department assured , the Council, prior to the completion of the Christ - churcli-Timaru line, that Timaru would be charged on a Dominion flat rate, (b) That notwithstanding that assurance, concessions have been made or promised to other districts and that the Dominion flat rate is not being enforced, with the result that other local bodies are being supplied at reduced rates.

(c) That since the advent of Coleridge on 9th December, 1923, to end of May, 1924, it has failed 75 times and the current has been actually cut off for 270 hours 21 minutes. (d) That the present 10 per cent, allowance in charges for standbyplant only entitles the Government to TOO hours yearly, whereas the standby plant has already carried the load largely in excess of those hours for the past five months. ' (e) That these frequent interruptions render it necessary for the Council to run its plant daily as a ■precautionary measure at a large additional expense, which, added to the Government charges, means a duplication cost of our power supply. (f) That the Government charges alone are largely in excess of what the Council could generate with an up-to-date plant. (g) That the Council finds it impossible to build up a paying load on the present high charges and unreliable supply 7 of current, and it certainly 7 entitles "the Council to a substantial con cession as a set-off to the extra cost of running its plant. (h) That the Council has the ratepayers’ sanction to borrow the necessary 7 money for the purpose of installing steam power, hut it is anxious to exhaust every- means of obtaining a reliable supply of hydro-electric power at a reasonable' rate before proceeding to instal steam. (i) That before further considering the steam proposal the Minister be urged to give our claims prompt and favourable consideration.