WATER POWER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 963, 2 November 1910, Page 6

WATER POWER.

THE GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSALS. DEBATE IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. In the Legislative (Council yesterday' afternoon the adjourned debate on tue Aid to Water Power Works bid was resumed by the iaon. \V. W. M-Uardle (Auckland) who conlined hiniseh mostly, to tha Atakuri isweani scheme. It \va3 ui.ueult to ooiaiii .louaoie outa, but ue ttuueteU tiiat lins scueme uas a reaily ueaiiauie olic. i'uerii n-ere u large nuw-' uer vi awry lactones in tab uiswiot. ivnicii wuuia ue Mined oy pi>\v£r lioin -uaiiUi'i. One 01 Uiese Uioue spent iouu u year m iuoi. naa liot uoeu u.-.ea "»«• nc ueucveu luis uruimn 01 uiuustiy would use a coiisideniOie quantity ot eleoWic pOrtOl'. iit 6 iuauiiiiie owners wuuici also, no oeuuitu, einuiaCu the opportunity of eiucuic power. in auujtiou to cue up iiad outiuied m favour or iijisuri. it' was one of cue cheapest possiuie. i-ower could be ostabiisuevl at a very reasonaoie rate • and the - prospects wuuid, no thought, warrant tue- Government in proceeding uiili the scheme.

The Popular Cry. The Horn J. M'Gowan (Auckland) questioned the wisdom qf the Governnient taking we whole of the enterprise into its own hands. It was a pity that they had not, in the past, in' at least some cases, arranged an equitable price to be charged, and allowed private enterprise to enter into the matter of developing some of the power. If proper use had been-made ; of the power the Government had there would have been no fear of a monopoly. He did ; not think it was necessary to bring every district into - line- at once. -The State should go cautiously with one or two schemes and not go hurriedly, because there was a popular cry for this electric power. "A Practical First Step.'!

The Hon. J. Rigg (Wellington) weV corned the measure as a practical first step, towards developing the wealth wo possess in our water power. The Hon. J. E. Jenkinson must have devoted a great deal of study to his speech on this subject, but that able speech had failed to convince him (Mr. lligg) that the Government was making a falsa step in this matter. There was too much assumption in the .whole .of his argument.. Mr. Jenkinson had, it appeared to him, made out a strong' case against; the electrification of the . rait ways, but the scheme could.stand without this. In his opinion the circulation of the new power would resuli in the establishment •of new industries and the established industries would need to _ adopt new methods to keep pace with competition. .

Not a Leap In the Dark. The Hon. 0. M. Luko (Wellington) expressed the opinion that this scheme, was one of the enterprises that the Government was warranted in' going 'into. He did not think as some, inside and outside of the Chamber did, that it was a leap in the dark. The scheme had certain risks, he admitted, and the essence, of its success lay in the Government putting' down a power in a district in which there was a demand for it. He did not care which scheme should bo .undertaken first—whether it was Lake Coleridge or the Hutt. Both, he believed, would be payable commercial undertakings'. He wanted to see the Government go on with the scheme around which there were the least elements of. defeat. : Water Power v. Fuel Plant.

With regard to the permanence of the equipment, said Mr. Luke. .a waterpower plant had a great- advantage over any other type. The absolute efficiency of a water-power plant was in the neighbourhood of 75 per cent., whereas the. absolute efficiency of any fuel-driven plant (from, fuel to power generated) ranged from 5 per cent, to 10 per cent. The probability of replacement owing to obsolescense—to getting out of date—to the necessity of replacement by more modern and efficient plant was very much more serious with a fuel-driven plant than with a water-power plant. Of the schemes to meet the requirements of the smaller districts the Makuri probably offered as profitable an undertaking as any other proposed. It was situated within reach of Palmer* ton, Dannevrrke, Woodville, Pahiatua, and Masterton, all of which required fair amounts of power and are growing districts. Over 9000 horse-power was already in use in this district, whilst the population served would be 46,000 and the lighting load would be very considerable. The data before the Council did not permit of a definite opinion being given as to the value of the Makuri scheme, but the private proposals already made to develop it indicated that the commercial prospects were favourable and' he thought the Government would be well advised in pushing on with a detailed survey and estimates of the business available. Concerning Lake Coleridge.

Referring to the Lake Coleridge scheme Air. Luke said the Hon. Mr. Jenkinson thought the Prime Minister was too low iu his estimate of the scheme. Mr. Hay certainly estimated that 1!9,000 horse-power would cost £700,000 or per'horse-power, and i 4,500 horse-power £440,000, or £30 per horse-power,. whereas the Prime Minister estimated 10,000 horse-power at £270,000, or £27 per horse-power, but Mr. Jenkinson did not point out that Mr. Hay's estimates were for continuous working at 100 per cent load factor. For the requirements of practical operation with a probable load factor ol 20 per cent to 30 per cent "a proportionately smaller quantity of water and correspondingly smaller outlay in headworks was required. A,s headwords constituted the main item in each of Mr Hay's estimates this \vould more than cover what Mr. Jenkinson pointed out as an apparent discrepancy. Mr. Jen-, kinson estimated that for the Lake Coleridge scheme to yield 10,000 horsepower of effective power .it would be necessary to put in six units each* of 2000 k.w. and estimated the. cost . at £376,000. As compared with the Prime Minister's estimateof £270,000 Mr. Jenkinson had immediately before pointed out the importance of the load factor in determining the output and revenue of the plant, but failed to recognise its influence also in reducing tlie amount of water required to drive the plant and consequently in reducing the cost of headworks. If the load factor were 15 per cent as Mr. Jenkinson etiimnted it would mean that the average flow required would be only 15 per cent of that required to give 10,000 horsepower continuously, that meant the average power required would only be 1500 horse-power. A great deal more than this average power was available at Coleridge without diverting any rivers into the lake and Mr. Jenkinson'i estimated cost of headworks, £100,0fl0 v could be correspondingly reduced. Mr Luke went on to deal with Mr. Jenkinson's remarks in retard to the M'aipori scheme which sclwe be (Mr. Luko\ considered a splendid example of what can be done by means of hydro-electric power. _ The debate was adjourned on tlie motion of the Hon. R. A. Loughnari.