THE WATER=POWER FOLLY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 984, 26 November 1910, Page 13

THE WATER=POWER FOLLY.

WELLINGTON'S POINT OF VIEW. HUTT SCHEME HOrELESS. A correspondent writes to the Editor as follows:- - Now that the Government proposals re water power have crystallised from the marvellous imaginings of the Minister for Public Works in his second reading speech ("It was magnificent—but it was not water-power") to tlio cold facts as prassuted by Mr. Holmes, in his exceedingly able and moderate report (which was' attached to the Public AVorks Statement), it.is timely for practical men to step in and criticise the proposals in detail. Instead of tho power being furnished direct to the user "at a rate iniiiiitely lower than any now in force in the Dominion" (I quote tho Minister), it is now seen that the current is to be furnished to municipal, bodies at'-ii rats which even Mr. Birks, in his most uplifted moments, dares not estimate-below an average of Id. per unit. -. ■". . As he points out, this will allow the consumer to get it at about 2ci:,-..wbi,ch he uoes not point out is only 20 per cent, below the present power-cost in' Wellington.: So the ■ "infinite-" possibilities sof ■ the-scheme have come down to a saving of 20 per cent. . All tho' wild' dreams of Mr. Birks are based on the assumption that- the Wellington Corporation, .(and others) will.buy all the power ,they.use at this average .rate, and'.particularly that, they .will buy tho;power now furnished by the tramway power-house at a rate of .7M.' per'miit—which pricci he uoclarqs, .'will/.leave a handsome profit for .both parties.' Mr. . Holmes-more sanely declares that tlic schemes depend on the municipalities' support, and adryises -that until tho respective bodies absolutely guarantee, to-.buy all their power from. the Government, no ,scheme should bo proceeded with., 'lie \ also observes, that .it will not pay Wellington tramways to 'give-' uioi'd' than ,6d.\ for the- current,' '.and that-more careful scrutiny will likely .reduce' this figure, i ;The Mayor' of Wellington promised to got.a report from Mr. ltichardson on this point, but it has,not yet materialised, and-as there may bo' a possibility ''that.:the '-.Opposition is getting this report kept back in order to ldnd the 'Government in .a hole (through, going on with a. scheme which the report, would 1 damn), I will anticipate what Mr.'ltichardson ' should say in ibis report.

If ':111c , .corporation ' buy \their power' ■from 'the Government, the steam plant will still-bo required as a reservo (vide Birks and Holmes), and provision .will rcc|iiiro to bo made for working' tho,. plant at regular intervals.'. Thus .it 'is'clear that depreciation, interest; sinking funds,, ■rents, and rates, and' .management will still have to'be met,'and'that:tho only items' to bo saved are .tlioso,given"under the headings of salaries nnd wages, fuel, watcri , oil, supplies; aiid'ropairs on ; . pago. 10 of-the .corporation balanccrsheot for 1910. These are .as follow., for-', that, ''year:—Waijss and ' salaries,,. .£39GS; fuel, JS37G;,; supplies, ■ .£GB3; .repairs,, i 1.864. It seems a. 'reasonable, estimate of Mr. Birks that tho -train traffic, ; and,-, there■fore, the station, output," will increase by 15 per cent; to 1915, which would mean that in 1915.the present useful output of .'5,133,34S units will havo increased ;to 1.5,903,350 units. .Now, none of the cost items will increase in anything Jike.. the samo . proportion,-, salaries -and ". wages ."slionld certainly not increase; by more than 7i-per. cent, over the ..present high rate's, : and probably no more labour-will bo. needed;. fuel will increase by about only 10 per cent., as there will be no increase in all the coal at present used for. banking fires, etc.; supplies will certainly not. increase by more than 10 per cent., and repairs should not increase-by'more than 5 per cent., with ordinary.luck. This gives as the savcublo cost of producing power in 1915 the following:—Labour, JJ42OG; fuel, .SO2U; supplies, .6751; repairs, .£1037; or a total of .£16,168.; ■ Now, after the current is supplied to the. corporation, it must be transformed, switched on and off, etc., and provision must he made for running the. old steam ■plant occasionally,' and for cleaning win-, (lows. and. sweeping floors, etc. It scorns impossible to spend less than ,£IOOO a year inside the power-liouEG even when the current is delivered,. arid this leaves .£15,108 as , tho highest amount which the corporation will bo justified in paying for tho electricity. The .useful output is assumed to be 5,903,350 units (and any greater amount will bo still worse for the Hiitt scheme), and to allow for losses in transforming, etc., and. for power used inside the power-station, at least l-9th must be added (this, agrees with the present loss exactly). Thus the Government must sell 6,500,000 units for ,£]. r >,168, or at a rate of. .555 d. per unit, to copy tho commendable exactitude, of Mr! Birks. I believe, Sir, that this is a fairlv exact estimate, and , the question now "is: Can tho Hutt scheme supply current at this rate, oven where the load fac-' tor is 33 per cent.? . The rate for any servico should,, of course, be computed on the load factor of the service. It should, in. fact, be the rate (plus profit) at-which, tlio scheme could supply all its power while working at tho Eamo load factor. ■ Tho present load factor of the Wellington tramways power-station is a shade under 20 per cent., and despite tlio sanguine prophecies of Mr. Birks, I-cannot believe it will over reach 33 per cent.' As the bare, cost of power from the Hutt scheme, adopting Mr. Birks's own estimates of the working, costs, will be .79(1. per, unit at-the 20 pcic6nt. load factor, and .48d. at the 33 per cent, load factor, I do. not see how the Hutt scheme can over sell power ehcaply enough to justify tho Wellington Corporation shutting down their steam plant. And this is what Mr. Hobies declares is the sine qua non of success, and the essential condition before anything further should be done, to be the guarantee of the corporation that this will take place. The leap-before-you-look policy receives no mercy from him, nor .should it from any

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