REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS
To be submitted to the Shareholders at the ordinary general meeting, to be held at cannon street hotel, London, E.C., on Thursday, the 18th day of May 1911, at 12 o’clock noon.
HORA HORA HYDRO-ELECTRIC WORKS.—The Hydro-Electric measure is proceeding satisfactorily and a report by Mr. Barry is annexed (page 61).
The question of how this scheme was affected by the unsatisfactory developments on the 9th Level received the most anxious consideration of the Board, but, having regard to the vital importance of cheap power and the considerable expense and liabilities already incurred, the Directors felt that the undertaking could not possibly be abandoned unless they were prepared to act on the assumption that the Mine is in a moribund condition. As the Directors entertain more hopeful views as to the future of the Mine they felt that the only course was to push on the work as quickly as possible, as any delay must cause considerable loss of money.
In order that the accounts of this undertaking may be kept distinct a separate Balance Sheet has been prepared and is now submitted. It is estimated that the total cost of the undertaking will be between £150,000 and £160,000. It will be remembered that £40,778 was transferred from Revenue Account last year and £30,730 is appropriated this year, and £80,000 has now been transferred from Reserve Account, so that approximately the whole of the estimated expenditure on this undertaking has now been provided for, and there will be no necessity to trench on future profits.
SUPERINTENDENTS ANNUAL REPORT FOR YEAR ENDED 31st DEC. 1910.
Waihi, 17th February, 1911
The Chairman and Directors,
Waihi Gold Mining Company, Limited,
London.
Gentlemen,
I beg to submit my Report on the operations of the Company for the year ended 31st December, 1910.
HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER.
Work has been commenced and pushed forward at the Hora Hora Rapids.
The cutting for the ditch is well under way, the site for the Power House has been cut down and excavations commenced for foundations.
Contracts have been let for 6 Turbines and Generators.
The route for the Transmission line has been felled and burned off where it passes over the Ranges.
Yours faithfully,
H. P. BARRY,
Superintendent.
REPORT on the HORA HORA HYDRO ELECTRIC WORKS.
For the Year ending 31st December, 1910.
Waihi, March 6th, 1911.
The Chairman and Directors,
WAIHI GOLD MINING COMPANY, LIMITED, LONDON.
Gentlemen,
The site is on the Waikato River, about 15 miles from Cambridge Station and about 12 miles from Tirau Station. The roads are not metalled, which necessitates that most of the carting should be done in the summer.
The river here has a natural fall, in a winding length of under half a mile, of 24 feet, which will be utilised without the necessity for constructing any permanent dam, but in order to maintain the head water to about normal level it will be necessary to throw out a groin into the river, its length depending on the quantity of water taken from the river. The water required will be taken by a channel from above the falls and diverted to dead water below them, after passing through the power station.
After a considerable amount of prospecting work, the route of the main water channel has been finally settled and the position of the power station has now been fixed.
The water channel will have a width of 100 feet at bottom and a normal depth of 10 feet, the available fall from normal head water to tail water being 24 feet. The distance from head-gates to the power station is 16 chains, part of the race being in rock and partly in sandy gravel, which will be protected with concrete. The intake end above head-gates and tail-race below the power station will be mostly in gravel.
So far it appears from the excavations already made that the power station will all rest upon solid rock and the excavations for the head-gates are all in rock.
The following work has been done on the property :—
Houses have been built that will be required for the permanent staff, and which are now occupied by the construction men. Cook-house and bunk houses, smithy, carpenters' shop, stables, and large sheds for storage of cement have been erected and a stock of cement is being carted up from Tirau.
The route of the water channel and site of power house was covered with a considerable depth of pumice sand and fine gravel, part of which has been cheaply removed by sluicing, the necessary water being brought on to the site by a timber flume from a dam on the Pokaiwhenua River, which runs through the property.
This work has been carried on day and night with three shifts of men, and has been completed as far as can be done at present. A further considerable quantity cannot be removed until the head-gates are completed and the entry of the river into the channel is under control.
The water channel itself has been excavated to its finished dimensions in various places for a total length of 600 feet. This has been mostly in rock, which has been broken out by explosives, and partly in boulders and tight sand, and has been removed in trucks drawn by horses. For part of the period the work has been carried on day and night, and for the rest of the time by two shifts.
The site of the power station has been excavated to a depth of a few feet above tail water level.
A small electric generating plant, driven by water from the sluicing flume, has been erected to supply power to the electric winches used for hauling up the trucks from the excavations and for driving the electric motors for the concrete mixers, pumps, and other construction plant
The water in the race will be controlled by eight steel gates carried by concrete piers, and will be raised and lowered by hand winches. These gates are now being made in England and will be shortly shipped.
The power station will contain six horizontal four-wheel turbines, each to develop 1,500 h.p., which are now being made by the Kristienham Works in Sweden.
The turbine shafts will be connected by flexible couplings direct to three-phase alternating current machines, generating at 5,000 volts, to be supplied by Messrs. Siemens Bros., Limited, London.
The current will then be transformed to 50,000 volts for transmission over 49 miles of line to Waihi.
Between Te Aroha and Waikino the line will pass over the Te Aroha Ranges. Here the bush has been felled and burnt for a width of four chains, and a track is being graded from the Te Aroha end for hauling the necessary supplies for the line.
As soon as the excavations are completed, the concrete work will be commenced and can be carried on during the winter.
Every effort is being made to push the work at the utmost speed.
Yours faithfully,
H. P. BARRY,
Superintendent.