ERECTION OF POLES

Waikato Times, Volume 95, Issue 14949, 20 May 1922, Page 6

ERECTION OF POLES

(To the Editor.) Sir,- —I want “Only a Looker On" to understand that the subject of pole erection is very interesting to me, as I am absolutely a practical man 'in every item of line construction work, of years’ standing. "Only a Looker On” says in his first letter that ine gentlemen in authority on the Borough Council could erect poles at the nett cost of 10s 9d if they tried. I am sorry I cannot agree with him. My experience is that it cannot be done in his lightning calculation. He states that a gang of five men would average arming and erecting about 16 poles per day. There is not a five-men gang that 1 know of anywhere in this colony that- can do so. Any man that thinks so honestly must be full of hot air. I may slate that my aim and object were not to throw dust in the eyes of the Waikato Times’ readers. To he frank, one of my aims was to defend contract, work against day labour; another was to get an official printed report of the costs of construction of the Central Power Board. At "the time of writing my last letter I had not seen their report, but between the lime of posting- and publishing it seems that the Central Power Board’s engineer gave a verbal answer to a question asked by the chairman of the said hoard as to the costs, etc., and according to “Only a Looker On" this was 12s 6d per pole! So when my last letter was written it was absolutely correct that on the reports of all the other electric power boards the contract price of 32s Gd per pole to the Hamilton Borough Council was the cheapest pole-erection price in the, Waikato. I do not wish to say that the Central Power Board’s electrical engineer’s verbally quoted price in answer to the question asked by the chairman is incorrect, and if he backs up that price by an official printed report to his employers' that his main line poles were erected for that price, I shall be one of the first to congratulate his erecting gang, himself, and his staff (“Only a Looker On” included), for to my mind and experience they have established a record of the lowest costs of pole-erection not only in the Waikato, but for the dominion of New Zealand.—l am, etc., KIA ORA.