The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1910. THE COUNCIL'S OPPORTUNITY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 962, 1 November 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1910. THE COUNCIL'S OPPORTUNITY.

The concern displayed by the Legislative Council last week for the in.egrity of its rights and privileges, in connection with iuR. Hike's charges, encourages us to hope that' in ueanng witn uie .did to 1, aier Power \\orks bill it will be equally caroful of its duty to.the public By rejecting that hill, or by laying it aside, cither of which things it is quite competent to do, it wnl atone tor much of its inaction in recent years. To us it seems impossible that any, member of the Council, aitjr the very careful' and instructive speech of the if on. J. E. uLNkinson, can conscientiously say that the country should be committed .to tiie tche.i.e of the Bill without further inquiry. The speeches in the House when the Bill.was being discussed there revealed very little real knowledge of the economics of a general scheme of water power for tnis country. The figures and arguments supplied to the Prime Minister by his advisers were quite unconvincing where they were not, as Mk. Black quickly showed, quite unbound. It is an accurate, summary of the history of the Bill to say that it was drafted in a hurry on insufficient information, and agreed to by the House without even a pretence of examination of its significance. If Mr. Jenkinson ha;, not absolutely des'ro ed the only arguments that could justify the expenditure of an enormous sum of money on a project that is wanted' only by those districts which will profit from tho expenditure of national revenuo in them, he has _ at any rate made out an overwhelming case for postponement and careful investigation. To begin with, the provision of electrical power, oven under the best conditions, cannot greatly benefit tho consumers of it. Mr. Jenkinson contends, and he quotes figures here as on every other point of his indictment, that Tfi' large plants of decent d s gn using oil or producer gas o::'gines the cost of, power will be actually less than where electricity is used. If. industry is to be helped, his argument proceeds, let the money be directed towards cheapening the cost of railway transit by reducing the grades on the lines and improving the economy and efficiency of the locomotive stock. As to the effect, of electrifying the railways there are quoted-the opinions of experts of acknowledged eminence, the not result of which is that only with the densest traffic can electrification make for economy. Before the Council can agree to the Bill it should have before it a disproof of the facts and figures that led Mr. , Jenkinson to the conclusion that "if we could run electric locomotives for nothing, it would not pay us to build them at present in New Zealand," and that therefore "if the development of these hydro-electric powers leads to electrification of all or any part of our railways as ' a means of bolstering up the electric revenue then thoy will be a curse instead of a benefit." We snail only this critic's demonstration of the wild absurdity of starting electric smelting works for iron ore for the purpose of. calling attention to his observation that "the greatest boon to smelting would be safe harbours on the coast of Wcstland and Taranaki capable of taking ships- of 10,000 tons." Such a way of thinking as is disclosed here is sharply in contrast with tho frame of mind of the House, where ttye character of tho discussion was in keeping with the foolish contention of the member for Napier that if we did lose all the £2,000,000 "the country could stand it." In those countries whose example, it is urged,' New Zealand should follow, coal is dear and distant, and there are industrial concerns whose demand for power is exceptionally continuous. Even the member for Napier will see that a hydro-electric installation will lose a smaller amount if the demand is fairly continuous than if it is small and intermittent. If the "load factor" is high, that is to say,- the actual cost per unit is less than whero the "load factor" is low. The "load factor" for the Wellington Electric Lighting Power House is only 15 per cent. Mr. Jenkinson has worked out the cost of the Coleridge scheme on that basis, and he finds that the actual cost per unit is 1 1-3 pence. But 15 per cent, as he shows, is a higher factor than can be expected. We of course do not adopt ail or any of Mr. Jenkinson's figures as conclusive. But his speech is the first reasoned attempt that has been made to go thoroughly into the economics of the question. The Council may imagine that tho Government would not bring down its Bill without fortifying itself with expert advice of the best kind. But the Government has manifestly not done this, or else_ it has unaccountably decided to withhold the opinions that would justify its proposals. The country simply cannot afford to spend millions in order to find out whether the country will benefit from a huge water-power scheme. The question can_ bo quite well settled by proper investigation, and that investigation the country is entitled to demand before the Government is entrusted with authority to spend a vast sura of money. It may be urged that only one of the various suggested installations will be put in hand, and wo should not think the money ill-spent if it served to prevent the country from an appalling total loss. But ia that case

why should the Government ask for such a tremendous authorisation as £500,000 a year'? Everybody knows well enough what will happen when the House is asked to vote specific sums for specific schemes. Following the vicious practice that has long been a disgrace to Parliament and a curse to the country, members will become a society of mutual accommodation. A will support B's district because B will support A's, and C, while grumbling that his district lacks a dole, will support both A and B, since ho will want their support some other time. The Council now has before it abundance of good reason for hesitating about completing the work of the House's carelessness and ignorance, and it will rise in the public esteem if it makes a 'definite stand, for or \ in the interests of national prudence.