Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 9th, 1920. HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 July 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 9th, 1920. HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

“WnicREyKR jt is commercially practicable, there is no at all that hydrp-electric development qhgujd lie actively pushed. Tp piy vi.ew, it is the most yaliuible-jugwf' ty’iijcfr t>Uis ppuijitry possesses." 'Hii* i<i flip ppinjop ip regard to the much dj&cijssefj. question of hydro-electric power of Mir Afflpid i firidley, K.8.K., a prominent Britlh electrical engineer, who is at present visjting tins Dppjinjo.n. Sir Arnold ha s lieen greatly Impressed wfiijp ip Christchurch with the development that has taken place in that town, and observed to a Christchurch ‘‘Sun’’ representative the other day that the load faction at Christchurch, having regard to the characteristics of the town, was one of the highest he know of in any part of the world. Sir Arnold was knighted in recognition of his war work under th.e British Government. Ho served under the Ministry fit Munitions as j! Controller of Electric Sdjwy Supplies, | a position which embraced the direction j of 600 public supply undertakings and about 50 electrical pjapf-maiuifac-turing firms. The visitor was, oyer another period, Electrical Adviser to the Home Secretary and the Ministry >f Transport. He relinquished his Government duties on March 31st., 1020. and sailed fpr New Zealand the same day, partly on holiday and partly co study the development of hydro-electric production and transmission with' an, eye to business. Tin's is his first visit: to the Dominion. After inspecting the Lake Coleridge works on Friday last Sir Arnold said that they had been well planned and soundly engineered. The only point where one - could criticise was that it would have been better to have adopted a Ixilder policy at the outset, and to have /.‘gone’’ for at least double the present supply. The lesson to he learned from the wonderful J success of the scheme was that the fu- j tore policy of the department should j be a little bolder. The visitor expros- 1 sed the opinion that probably 25,000 h.p. would he available from Coleridge

when the Harper river was diverted into the lake) but he was not sufficiently acquainted with hydro-electric, nor with the local conditions to say whether the new supply of water would keep the lake up to its normal level, when the quantity drawn off was .11creased.

tDisdussing the proposed electrification of the Arthur’s Pass tunnel, Sir Arnold Gridley said that it would be the only possible way to operate trains passing from one const to the other. As regards electric transport, the visitor : claims that the rail lias the advantage over even the concrete road. There could ho said, he no getting away from flic fact that a. steel wheel on a steel rail took first- place ns a means of locomotion. Electrification of most railways would come in time. Probablv the whole of the main lines in Great. Britain would justify conversion from steam to electricity now, if the money to carry out the work could be secured. (Already the North-Eastern Railway Company bad decided to electrify its main lino from Berwick to York, a ■ distance of about 140 miles. The trains ■ would be drawn by electric locomotives, working on current supplied by public utility companies. Several other main line electrification schemes were under consideration by the Ministry of Transport. It would he foolish to think of electrifying all the lines of New Zealand at once, hut all railway extensions!, tulrmels, and the like should be planned with a view to their ultimate electrification, so that unnecessary cost might be saved when the -time came for conversion. There was a definite field of usefulness before the electric road vehicle, which was mainly

confined to short-distance journeys. The weight of storage battery that ( could be carried limited its size, and correspondingly, its electrical output. ■ The heavier the battery the longer the journey, but the lighter the load that , could be carried. It is recognised at Home that New Zealand has great potentialities in the way of waterpower; and British manufacturing firms are anxious to cultivate tliis market. That is one reason why Sir Arnold intends spending some months in the Dominion before lie crosses to Australia.