HOROWHENUA'S PROGRESS

Chronicle (Levin), 29 June 1946, Page 4

HOROWHENUA'S PROGRESS

ELECTRICITY PLAYS A VITAL PART GREAT GROWTH REFLECTED The shortage 'of electric power in | recent months 'has brought home. co many people the vital part piay- j ^d by electricity as a major factori in the economy and, therefore, tnei prosperity of the country. The | nigh efficiency of dairy production j due in no small nieasure to.the ixtent to which efectrification of | country areas has been carried outi .n New Zealand. The Dominion's dairy indusrry probably makes more use of eiectrical labour savmg devices than .any other agricul•mral country in the world. Milking machines operated by electric ! power are almost universal, whereas } m tlie United Kingdom electricity j jn the farm is a comparative iimo- j ■/ation. • j How the electrification of the 1 Horowhenua district has been a key i m its progress is showh in a set of ; .oaustics which have lately been; lompiled by the §taff of the Horovhenua Electric Power Board. The ngures shown cover the subject a'om every aspect of electric power is it affects both the farming and .ndustrial communitv, and of course, the home. They extend over a period of 21 years from 1924 to 1946. In 1924, with a population in the ooard's district of about 11,000. ohere were 171 miles of line, servoig just over 1400 consumers., To-day these figures have risen to 19,000 population, with over 7100 consumers served by 403 miles of ines. The maximum load rose steadily from 468 kilowatts to 5430 .ulowatts. Although a great part if this load increase must be due fco the increasing use of electric. tight, the figures for ranges,_ waterneaters and motors, particularly milking machine motors, show vhere the development of the district has taken place as a primary and secondary producing area of no small importance. There were no milking machines using the board's supply in 1924. Yet, within a year, 235 were in use, and to-day there are 1477 milking machines' using the power distributed by the board. This in itself is a strong indication of the growth of the dairying industry in this disi trict. The figures for waterheaters land motors are similar, although motors, most of which would be used in -local secondary industries, are in the majority to-day, having risen from 163 in 1924 to 3102 in 1946. The increase in the nurnber I of ranges. none of which were conI nected to the board's supply in 1924, | shows the popularity of cooking j with electricity. There are 2237 in | use today. The corresponding num-iber-of units sold on an average to each consumer has risen from 261 ' in 1924 to 2363 to-day, although in 1 1942-43 the. figure was 3364. This is ; a numericai indication of the pres- | ent shortage. ! A further set of figures, deali' g , with costs, revenue and allie.d factors, shows that the gross revenue ' has increased from £5044 in 1924 to £87,753 for the year ended March, 1946. Perhaps the most enlightening figures, or rather percentages | are for the ratio of consumers to ; the population, which was 12.4 in 1 1924,» and 37.4 to-day. This shows : more than anything the extent to j which the use of electricity as a I now indiSpensable comihodity has Igrown with the years.