POWER SUPPLY.

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20475, 16 April 1938, Page 10

POWER SUPPLY.

j NGARUAWAHIA SERVICE SCHEME FOR FAULT REPAIRS ! CENTRAL POWER BOARD REPORT I I With several complaints emanating from the Ngaruawahia district with regard to the. electric-power service in that territory, the engineer-manager of the Central Waikato Electric-Power Board, which serves the district, Mr j. h. Ellis, has prepared a report on the situation. The report opens with a review or the matter since 1923 when the board took over the area and established a trouhleman, Mr J. Crothers, in the ! town. Last year he was transferred to Hamilton and Ngaruawahia is now’ serviced from Hamilton. | “Present conditions,” states the report, “provide for a large staff to be on duty at Hamilton depot during working hours, and these men are practically all on the telephone at their homes with special members on duty to ati tend to calls after working hours. Spe- | rial telephone communication, as you ; know, has been arranged for, so that I there is a 24-hour telephone service I provided. j “In the working of this staff, arrangements are made whereby the ! depot authorities know exactly where ! to locate any maintenance men who i have been called out, and the foreman [is closely in touch with them, and is I often able to instruct them to attend J to faults in the vicinity of where they [are, or which can be attended lo as | they are passing through, thus resulti ing in the work being done in a minij inum of time. Difficult to Locate j "Mr Crothers was engaged over an 'extended area and the consumer generally had no means of knowing where he was when he was wanted for other work. If at a distance, he might be easily’ located and communicated with, or It might take longer to locate him and to bring him in from one or two [miles distant than for 10 miles. It ! follows that a consumer might get him i quite promptly on one occasion and the ! next time have to wait a considerable period whilst he was being located and brought from a distance. That con- , Fiimer. after his first experience, upon | having to wait, whilst a trouhleman j came from Hamilton to answer bis next ! call, might easily venture an opinion j which would lead to an erroneous conI elusion. I ‘‘There have been quite a number . of cases where consumers In and around Ngaruawahia have remarked that the service from Hamilton has been faster than that from Ngaruawahia. ‘‘l am definitely of the opinion after a six months’ trial that a satisfactory service can be given, and is being given, from Hamilton, and that inasmuch as a 24-hour service from a large num- . ber of service men is arranged for as , compared with a one-man 40 hours per | week service, with a call on the main j depot for additional assistance, the serI vice from Hamilton must be a fuller i and more reliable one. In addition i there is the Huntly service station even ! closer than Hamilton in case of special ; emergency. Under One Foreman “At present the bulk of the maintenance work is done from Hamilton, as it has been found by this board, and is the general experience of other boards, that it, is advantageous to have as many jmen as possible, and the transport for , them, under the control of one forejman. As development takes place, no ; doubt further men will have to be stationed at Huntly. A large number j of consumers are being serviced at a I greater distance than 12 miles, some '.up to 20 miles and over. I "I can state, without fear of contrai diction, that tin's board has built up ; quite an efficient maintenance service, i and consumers have testified to this |on very many occasions, and there has : been no call or demand from any portion of the district, except Ngaruaj wahia, for a better service than is be- ; ing given. I can state also, that instructions were given, and 1 know they have been definitely carried out, that the service to Ngaruawahia has to be j the best that it is possible to give. This | does not mean that we have complacently satisfied ourselves that we canj not do better. We are, all the time, j investigating, enquiring and experimentI ing in an endeavour still further to im- | Prove the lay-out of the lines and the i reliability and safety of the service. As a matter of fact, one of the uses being made of Mr Crothers at the present time is the testing of lines with a special appliance for the purpose of locating and eliminating incipient insulator i troubles. A further line of investigaI lion and enquiry is the equipment of wireless on the board's trucks, which, If carried out, would greatly facilitate maintenance work. Question of Service “When the matter of the removal of the trouhleman was submitted to the Finance Committee, and the removal was recommended to the board, it was contended that the very small number of actual trouble calls recorded over a period of six months did not warrant the filling of the position that would be rendered vacant by the removal of Mr Crothers to Hamilton. “Under present day conditions I consider The question that should be answered is not whether a trouhleman I should be re-instated at Ngaruawahia, | b*ut whether a trouhleman is necessary j there in order to give adequate service I to consumers in the town and the surj rounding district, in other words, if | I were required to report on the question for the first time as to whether or I not were necessary to provide for a I resident trouhleman at Ngaruawahia, I would he guided by the experience of th' l hoard Hint an efficient service is further afield from the "depot "'and would, except there were special reasons (and 1 do not know of anv) recommend that t here was no necessity • lor making such an,appointment, but fhaf, on the oilier hand, there were sound reasons in the working of the .maintenance staff and transport why the appointment should not be made. I I " there is, however, one way in which it might be possible In provide for ! ! prompt local attention to minor faults ' I which represent .v.ite a In rim percenli !1 ? e of the consumers’ troubles. Since I |tl>e change was made nl Naaruawah" I .and possibly encouraged bv ilia! cl.mure a registered wireman has commenced ; business there, lie would lie prepared ; to enter into a world,m acre- will, j the hoard for 11,e repair of the low 1 he Whirl, the 1 is ! j responsible, and would bo prepared also j

to carry out minor work, such as repairs to consumers' fuses, at- a fixed amount and charge the consumer direct. There is no reason why the consumers should not get him to do other repair work also.”