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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke's Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts]

Electric Light and Gas Companies

Electric Light and Gas Companies.

The Hawera County Electric Light Company, Limited . Directors: Messrs E. Payne (chairman), G. Syme, J. G. Beamish, T. L. Joll, and J. White. Mr. C. E. Gibson is secretary, Mr. C. Parrington assistant secretary, and Mr. G. Trevithick, engineer. The company's registered office is in Union Street, and the power house is situated about six miles from Hawera, on the Waingongoro road. At this point a considerable bend in the Okaiawa river is taken advantage of by a tunnel of a chain and a-half in length, to provide a fall of forty feet. A weir has been constructed so as to provide a steady supply of water power, and the turbines thus driven will develop from seven to eight hundred horse-power. From the power station, the current is led by overhead wires to four different settlements; namely, Hawera, Manaia, Normanby and Okaiawa, which are lighted by electric light generated at the central power house. The company also provides motive power to the Riversdale and Joll's dairy factories. In addition to the engineer in charge, two engineers and two assistant engineers are employed at the power house.

Mr. Geoffrey Trevithick was appointed Chief Engineer and Working Manager of the Hawera County Electric Light Company, Limited, in March, 1904. He was born in the year 1877 in Cornwall, England, and is a son of Mr. J. G. Trevithick, who is further referred to on page 210 of the Auckland volume of this Cyclopedia. He came to New Zealand with his parents at an early age, and was educated at the Auckland College and Grammar School. In 1896 he served his time as an electrical engineer with Messrs Chambers and Son, in Auck- page 247 land, and for four years subsequently was employed by Messrs Steuart and Fenn, of Auckland and Dunedin, and was afterward engaged on many electrical works, including those of the Kotu Sawmills (Hokianga), the New Zealand Portland Cement Works (Whangarei), the Avondale Brick Works, Hellaby's Factory (Auckland), the Auckland Freezing Works, Adams's Bacon Factory, the Auckland Herald Office, the Auckland Exhibition (wiring and running), Kempthorne, Prosser and Co.'s Acid Works (Westfield), and the Nelson Harbour Board's dredge. He was also employed successively on the Fedderson's, Greymouth Lagoon, No Town Greek, Pactolus, Stoney, Mosquito, and Clyde gold dredges, and was engaged in connection with the Tararu Greek, Moanataiari, Komata reefs. Talisman, Waikino, and Waitekauri batteries, and the Crown Mines (under ground), Wheel of Fortune Sluicing Claim, and the lighting of the town of Bluff, the Seacliff Asylum, and the s.s. “Waimanui,” the s.s. “Taniwha,” the s.s. “Teranora,” and the s.s. “Hinemoa.”

Mr. Charles Edmund Gibson, Secretary of the Hawera County Electric Light Company, Limited, was born in the year 1847, in Chester, England, where he was educated at St. John's School. He came to New Zealand in 1860 with his parents, who settled on a farm near Marton. Nine years later he removed to the Patea district, where he was variously employed till 1877, when he started a general store in Normanby. In 1883 he took up farming, and in 1886 he became clerk to the Normanby Town Board, and secretary of the Normanby Dairy Factory. He subsequently resigned these appointments to accept the position of secretary to the Hawera County Electric Light Company. Mr. Gibson was the first chairman of the Normanby Town Board and school committee. He married Elizabeth, the only daughter of the late Mr. Joseph Wright, of Roby, Lancashire, England, and has two sons and two daughters.

The Hawera Gas Company, Limited, was established in the year 1896, with a capital of £10,000 in £1 shares. Gas was first supplied in the following year, and the streets of the town were lighted in 1898. The re-registered office and show-room of the company is situated in High Street. The gas works stand on Lower Tawhiti road, adjoining the railway line, on a site of three acres of land. There is a full modern plant, including eight retorts, and two gasholders capable of containing 30,000 and 10,000 superficial feet of gas respectively. About seven miles of mains have been laid throughout the borough. There are 470 consumers and the charges are 6s 8d net per thousand feet for cooking and power purposes, and 8s 4d net for lighting. Directors for the year 1906: Messrs R. H. Nolan (chairman), H. W. Sutton, A. Trimble, W. A. Parkinson, F. J. Wrigley, W. G. White, and E. A. Pacey. Mr. H. Elliott is secretary and H. J. Atkinson, manager.

Mr. Hubert J. Atkinson was appointed Manager of the Hawera Gas Company in the year 1905. He is a son of Mr. H. Atkinson, who was for thirty-five years manager of the Auckland Gas Company, and learned his business as a gas engineer, under his father, in Auckland. Mr. Atkinson was afterwards stationed at Thames, Whangarei, and Pahiatua, and was manager of the Pahiatua Gas Company for two years. He afterwards removed to Northcote, Auckland, and was for two years manager of the Northcote Gas Company, before his appointment to Hawera.