HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER FOR THE NORTH ISLAND

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 162, 28 March 1918, Page 6

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER FOR THE NORTH ISLAND

Sir,—As the question of harnessingour water powers is one of pressing interest, I accepted the kind invitation juf the Waikaremoana League to visili the lake.- The lake is 21 square miles; and 240 feet deep, is 2015 feet up iiv. the air, and the drop to be used is. 600 feet. As a great source of powerit is most impressive. It is a great. j national asset of enormous' value. i Very many peoplo viewing a great flow ! of water overlook the fact that to har- ■ ness any water power, convert it into electricity, and convey it to users costs, a very large sum of money. It is bad! finance to spend a big sum of money and to have to pay £25,000 a year in. interest, sinking fund, depreciation, and upkeep unless there are enough buyers of water power to cover that sum. Three rival sources of power in this island are:— (1) Enormous power in the Waikato River to supply Auckland. (2) Ample power—2s,ooo horsenear Shannon to supply the Wellington area. (3) Lake Waikaremoaua. Judged by the business standard, which of these schemes will pay its way at once? The answer is clear: Welling- ! ton and Auckland, because each will j supply power to upwards of 200,000 I persons. Thero will be so many users I they will pay their way from the start. | Take our Wellington scheme. Shannon: ! is the centre of a host of users—Wai ngauui, Martou, Palmerston North, the> ' Wairarapa townships, and, above all, ! Greater Wellington. We have the experience of the Lake Coleridge schema to prove that the Waikato and Shannon i powers will pay. This is beyond di&- ! pute an ascertained fact. i The third scheme, Waikaremoana,. ; fine as it is, suffers from the severe • handicap that it is in the centre of the least-peopled district in the North ■ Island. North, south, east, and west; over 100 miles there arc scarcely any users of power. There is the added : cost of waste of electricity in transmission, and the great cost of making roads, beside the long lines of wireAs a business proposition Waikaremoanri could not pay its way for yearsto come—would be run at a big yearly loss. As the Waikato and Shannon schemes will each pay their way directly they are completed it is clear that they should be gone on with as soon as i possible.—l am, etc., j ALFRED K. NEWMAN..