HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 217, 8 June 1920, Page 6

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

S6UTH CANTERBURY DEMANDS

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER

f In recent years tho Canterbury peoplo f' have been discovering tho uses of elec- ' tricity, and the demand for current from the Lake Coleridge system has grown ' until it now cxcceds considerably the supply. The station is now supposed to givo 8000 horse-power. It is actually 'i delivering 9000 h.p. Arrangements are , in train for extensions to increase the ' output by 8000 h.p., and already the applications for power far exceed the prob- " able available capacity of the station .? when enlarged. When the scheme was I first established tho representatives of " South Canterbury in tho House pressed F very hard for the inclusion of South Can- „ terbury in the area to bo supplied, and a the Government promised that as soon as possible the supply lines would be car- * ried to Timaru and beyond This pro- " mise was not fulfilled for a number of reasons, and in tho meantime Christ--1 church has gone on increasing its consumption until there is not even enough > current for its own needs, to say nothing { of the needs of South Canterbury or i other districts. . A deputation of South Canterbury local J bodies waited on the Prime Minister yesterday to remind him of the past prol mises of the Government, 1 and to ask » for their early fulfilment. They were obviously in some fear that: Christchurch i would be allowed to go on absorbing alt the supply, and that the delays in join- , ing up South Canterbury with the sys- , tem would result in no surplus being available for Timnru and other towns , at any tira'f. . , _ . Mr. 1.. Birks, Chief Electrical Engineer, who was present, was questioned in some detail by members of the'deputation, especially by Mr. W. Angland, ol Tiniaru. He said that tlie present power- ' house, with the extensions now being pro- ' vided would be sufficient for a capacity of double tho present output. _ Largo applications were in hand for increased supplies'of power, but tlio South Canter- • bury demand, which was regarded a» urgent, was included in .the schedule. It,"was true that the applications exceeded the prospective supplies from the third 4000 h.p. unit how. being installed, . and even from tho fourth 1000 h.p. unit to be installed. He did not think, however. that the applicants would in the end "take ithe power they had asked for. The districts had asked for more than their requirements. For the reason that these demands were in his opinion so much in excess of requirements he did not think it wise to publish them. The Lyttelton tunnel would take, if electrification should be decided upon, about 1000 h.p., and this was not included in the present allocations. _ As ta the progress being made with t.he installation of the third unit, material for which had been ordered in I'jlC, the turbine had been delivered two j years ago, the generator had just amv- , ed in New Zealand, and the first ship- ] ment of the pipe-line was .on Ithe water, ] with a prospect of other shipments following quickly enough to allow tho worlc to go on unimpeded. It was, expectpd thnt this third unit would be in service | neslt winter. For the final unit tenders . closed on. July 31, and the work would •, be pushed on, vigorously. The transmw- ( sion line to Timaru had been surveyed, | and detail plans had been prepared as ] far as Methven. The first shipment of ( the polfls ordered, in 1919 bad come only j a few weeks ago, and it was now ex- f pccted that the work of erecting tho line , would proceed vigorously. j In reply to a question, Mr. Birks said t that the 'demands in hand would absorb ( the whole capacity of the unit now coming in, including the South Canterbury demand. He hoped that in two years power - would be available from the fourth unit Replying to a question, he said that thero would bo a chance ot South Canterbury getting a share of 3 power from the third unit now going in. j Pressed further on this point by Mr. , Craigie, he said 'that ithe intention at j present was to keep a share of the power from tl» third unit for South Canter- J kirv. and that there was some prospect > of power being available in Timaru in j about, eighteen months. He said, also, j that the original plans provided for tak- i ing the line to Oamaru, but he did not < think now that without considerable ex- i tensions a<t Lake Coleridge it wmld be j advisable to take the line past Timaru. Mr. Massey said that lie. knew nothing j of details connected with hydro-clectrio ( works. He assured the deputation that t tho Government was just as anxious as they -were themselves to givo Canterbury l i<tectricity. Never before had the need c for electricity been felt so keenly as dur- t in* the past two years, owing ' to Ithe conl shortage existing dur- ' in? practically tho wholo of this j period. Most' of. the mines were now i: working full time, but it seemed to be 0 impossible to get along without stop- g pages of work in coal mines. Even I with the present output, and with addi- t tional importations of coal, there was still a shortage of supplies. The Gov- fl eminent had determined to push on with ~ •the development of hydro-electric schemjj as fast as possible. Mr. Birks f, had just. given his opinion that the p power ought to be .available for Timaru (1 in eighteen months. He hoped it would bo possible to give effect to! this. All promises made bv the Government would i ho honoured unless insuperable difficul- 'jIties came in tho way. TliCre was no f( unwillingness on the part of tne uoy- n eminent to go on with hydro-electric works at present. They were consider- w ed to be the most important of all pub- tl Ironworks in hand. . . * This statement from the Prime Minis- » ter was received with evident satisfac- r tion. g