Proposed Borough Gasworks

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume IV, Issue 1050, 26 July 1904, Page 3

Proposed Borough Gasworks

Ilio EngitMi's M\i\m Money to be Borrowed From Hie- Bank Poll to lie Taken Last cycling a special meeting of the Borough Council was hold m tho Fire Brigade station to consider tho question of lighting tho borough with 'gas. Thore wore prcßcnt, tho Mayor (Mr T, Oilmour), Councillors Campbell, Brown, Rybum, Foster, Newth, Slcvin, Donaldson and Hondcrsou, THE ENGINEER'S REPORT Tho following was tho report nn the subject by tho borough engineor, Mr 1). W. McArthur :- ■Waihi, 23rd July, 1004 His Worship tho Mayor and Councillor!, Gentlemen, —In aceordsno with instrtiCi lions I hare the honour to report ns follows with regard lo the proposal to light Waihi with gas :- SITK Of WORKS. Tho parry reserve below Silverton Road is in my opinion tho most suitable site, as it is at n low lovel, is contvally situated, has a rock bottom, and is borough property. nn JMi.\3. Tho Bti'O&ts upon which 1 would propose to lay theso nro shown by colour on tho accompanying plan. blue denoting sixinch or two four-inch pipes, whilst red shows three inch. The total length of piping required for this will be seven miles. I liavo provided a suflieiont length of largo main to admit of supplying a much larger number of sido streets with gas when required, STItEF.T LAWS. The position of tho present sired lampi are shown on plan, and it will bo som that tho proposed system of piping trill roach nearly all ot ihem The proposed schoujo provides for increasing tho number o! theso lamps from 47 to 100. LIOUT3 UKqUIRED. 1 lmvo inquired from residents in the various streets in which \\ is proposed to lay tho pipes the probable number of lights each will tike in tho evotit of gas being available, with tho following re* suit : Consutuers Lights Stoves Mato'streot, Hospital to Stafford's 70 524 12 Kenny-street ... 24 110 1 Kensington Road „. 10 26 0 Walker-streot ... 12 2.3 2 Regcntistroet ... !)■ 2S 1 Moresby Artmic ... 15 44 ■■> Roycroifstreol ... 11 24 0 Gray.strcet ...4 9 0 tfloviiustraet ... 7 10 0 Bosomont flood ... 19 120 (i Hasmrd'Btreot .„ 11 41 1 Silverton Road ... 4 11 1 Gilmour-3treot ,„ 5 27 0 ' ... 6' 70 0 Clarke-street ... 5 id 0 218 1089 27 Theso streets have been chosen by me as they appear to bo the leading avenues of traffic at the present linw in lids town, from which it will bo a simplo matter lo oxtend tho service in all directions accord' ing to tho inoreaso of population from timo to timo. In estimating the consumption of gas, I liavo taken tin above 1089 lights ami 27 stoves together, t-hui nuking 111(3 lights for 218 consumers. HSTIHATB Of COST, I!TC,| Tho cstimnto of the cost of tho wcrk, including mains, motors, manufacturing plant, sheds, erection and excavation, cartage, laying mains and connections, oil stroct lamp 3, and contingencies, is .CGulO ss.

Tin estimated revenue from nli tourer is £I7OO. This is charging for gas at '(bo ratoofßs per 1000 feet. The minimi cost of the seheuio include ing loal, labour, gas used by street Limps, gas used by Borough office, and maintenance of lumps, is estimated nt £1172. This will leave a bulanco of profit of £528, or about eight por cent interest on (he original outlay. In estimating tho revenue I have only aSßUincd the Hghts to bo burning for i) hours during 800 nights in the your, ami each of tho stoves as ouo light, so that il.k consumption of gas may bo taken as the minimum, oven in thoovont of the number of lights assumed being oxcossivo. In this coDnootion, however, I should think that with the apparont splondid prospects of Woibi and the suitability of gusfor cooking where the working population is occupied dav and night, together with tho scarcity of fuel, tho consumption wi'l probably bs in excess of that estimated, thus giving a greatoi revenuo in proportion to tho anna il cost COMPLETION Ob' WORKS In tlio evout of your Council undertaking this work, I beg to state that it will tako 12 or 15 months to eomploto tho scheme from date of ordering tho necessary plant; and as tho railway will bo completed to Wuikino beforo that timo expires, tho cost of transit of material will bo rcducod, OUTSIDE SUPI'LY It has been proposed by the Ohiueuiuri Lighting Company to supply Wailii with gas in bulk, but as no price was stated I cannot compare tho scheme with the foregoing; it would, howev*!", be an oasy matter to ascertain this if you should think it dosirablo for purposes of comparison, HKJIO. Tho lost of providing and laying i! inch rutins per mile as extensions to the above will vary from ll'M to £S)7S, according to class of piping used. W. D, McArthcr, Uorour.h Engineer. On tho motion of tho Mayor, seconded by Cr. Slovin, tlio report was rtcoivid, and tho Engineer thanked. THE MONEY

The (Jiu-.-ii had before it three dilt'oront proposal;) as to tlio raising ot nionoy to carry out the scheme. Tlio first proposal was to issue short* tinted debentures, such debentures to be sold by Iho Bank throughout tlio colony, thi liiinlt advancing the necessary funds to ro on with the work in tlio meantime, and Inking up any of the debentures not otherwise disposed of, Tlio second proposal w to increase tlio Bi)roii"h'B overdraft limit to £15,000 and to borrow tlio money from (ho Lank in the ordinary way of overdraft. II this were dono the idea was to transfer, sav, £6 000 .ram tho (jeneral fund to a works account, and Itoop nil transactions midnr this head separate from tho general ft" l ' l , , • .i Tho third sclinno was to raise tlio moncv by special ban. The Couucil had already decided that before tho proposed scheme was commenced the consent of the elector* should he obtained. Speaking on the matter, Cr hosier said he rather favoured the idea of a special lo.'ll, He thought the idea of piling up th-i oret'diiiftn-ouKlseareclycoifliiieud itself to the public mind, O Donaldson said ho did not sec that it mattered where the money was a o t whether from the bank or otherwise J t « acl lo l,c !)onweJ frora sonio ' ody* lie favored Hie propositi tballlw

overdraft limit should be increased, and the money obtained from Hie bin!;. This would save a lot of expens- in Hie it ay of fee.", etc, He considered tli:il ns Hi? i;ns works ivere to be n paying eoneeui, mid not a losing one, there should be no difficulty in getting the ratepayers' con. sent. He moved that the second icheme, ns outlined above—of getting the money from the hank-he adopted, and that a sinking fund of A'iiOO per annum, to he paid out of the general fund, be established. Cr. Slovin seconded tho motion. lie said that if thoy railed a special loan they would lmvo to strike n into, which would have to bo paid by everybody, whether tlioy received ilto bonelit or not, Or. Newth thought it ™ a pity to commit themselves lo tho Bank, when there were so many other institutions from which tho money could ho borrowod, Ho would lilto to soe tho various financial proposals submitted to the elector!, (Jr, Hendorson supported tho proposition,

Cr. Campbell also supported it. Ho said ho wan in favour of cconmy, but ho regarded tho matter of light as urgent. If the olectors nero not in favour of tho Council proceeding with tho scheme, then he would support it being handed over lo somo priyato company. Soveral other Councillors spoko, and tho motion was thon put and carried, THE BALLOT I'ArERS On the motion of Cr, Honderson, the Mayor, Crs. Brown, Donaldson, aud Foster were appointed a couimiltco to draw up n ballot paper, and to arrango the datoof thopoll. It was understood that tho electors should be asked to declare whether the work should be done by Ilio iiimiii'ipah'ty or otherwise, PROPOSED PUBLIC MEETING After a eonsidernblo amount of discus l siou, a motion by Cr, Donaldson, that a public meeting bo held to explain the scheme lo the public, was lost, tho voting being four in favour, and fivo against, MUNICIPAL BUILDING'S LIGHTING Tho potion of lighting the new municipal obtunbois was then considered, and after going thoroughly into tho matter, the Council decided to accept Mr, R, L, 11, Murray's offer to hiatal acetylene gas at a total estimated cost of Xu4lß-.