Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star SATURDAY, DEC. 18th, 1920. THE WEEK.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 December 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star SATURDAY, DEC. 18th, 1920. THE WEEK.

In connection with the action this week to determine the most suitable site for a Westland hydro-electric power soheme, the selection of possible sites is wide enough to embrace schemes capable of developing a high supply of power. One or two of the sites will not give any material reserve of power over and above what might be expected soon to be absorbed. In those instances it is of doubtful advantage to invest a large capital sum with serious limitation to ultimate resources. The I experience generally is that more and more power is required once the electric ouirrent is introduced, for its uses being manifold, and its convenience so marked, consumers crop up in all directions. That has been the experience in Canterbury where the Lake Coleridge scheme is destined to lie inadequate for the provincial needs. The same result is taking place in United (States, where electric power is very largely used. In one locality, - the Washington area, a Coliimission has been set up to go into the question of providing more power, and from enquiries made in advance it has been found necessary to provide for not less than 500,000 h.p. to meet demands already in sight. The schemes invariably expand, so that at the outest it is well not to have them too circumscribed. Local requirements are difficult to guage at this stage, but the sawmilling industry will ibe a good customer for long years to come. The power may be operated in many directions about a mill, and as the tendency is to dovelope larger industrial centres in the lumber trade, pdAver and light will be required about the homes of the workers, ..and for the amenities of village life. The

probability that considerable power will be required to Operate dredges must be taken into account also. Within a year a project mrniiby here will have demonstrated the advantages of electric power in working on a large scale, and oil the results will depend the -future of the dredges in the same localities, as well as on other fields also in this immediate neighbourhood.

In the farming centres, likewise, there will lie a good demand for home consumption, whether for lighting or for operating farm machinery, including the milking machinery. The town of Hokitika will not be immediately available as a customer for light and power, having an arrangement for street lighting already, with the local company deriving power from' Lake Kanieri. That source as at present operated is limited "however, and if the town is to do anything in the way of secondary industries rendered possible from cheap motive power—as is happening on the Canterbury plains—it would be competent for the local body here to buy ■power in bulk from the Power Board, and by arrangement under the contract with the Kanieri Lake scheme, it might be possible to distribute the power to local consumers over the existing reticulation service. The immediate .consumption from all these branches of pos sihle, in fact, probably trade, however, would not be of sufficient volume to justify a large capital outlay on a major scheme with ample reserve power for the future. That being so, .- ould not the field of the Power Board be extended to take in other probably consumers? At Greymouth for instance there is a movement to develops power but the prospects there of securing a. comparatively cheap source for harnessing purposes is not so rotate as here. Could not that northern district be induced to join Westland, or in the alternative, could not the "Westland Power Board sell power in bulk to the northern local bodies constituting an outer area, and permit them to distribute it as required under their own management? An arrangement such as this would make the Toaroha scheme, for instance, quite practicable, and in fact an urgent necessity. It would place the whole project on a different footing altogether, and enable a really comprehensive scheme capable of marked development to come to pass in due season. It would give an important section of the West Coast a great fillip.

“White coai, ,” as the electric current "’has been called is likely to he Westland’s greatest asset in regard to flourishing industries in the future. Dr Bell forecasted this in one of his geological reports when he said that “as regards water-power- there is every reason for hoping that in time to come it' will -bring a prosperity to Westland equal to that of the mining industry in its best days, and incomparably more permanent in its nature.” It would be well for the community to grasp this fact, and begin to realise the possibilities of electric power as an aid to permanent prosperity. Very few of the townspeople, we suppose, understand how the power is being applied industrially so close at hand as at South Hokitika, whereon Rimu Flat electric power is now the motive driving all kinds of machinery, . working a sawmill winch, hauler etc., and later will be operating the most powerful dredge the Dominion has seen. The current will He doing all- this more effectively and economically than steam power, and if this wore realised folk would begin to sit up, and take an interest in a project which is of vital importance to them. We suggest that the townspeople should take a day off and see for themselves what can he done, and how with the help of a few wires here and there power fiom the same distant source may be applied in so many different directions and to so j many tasks, at once. Educating them- ] selves on these revelations, the ;/cod j people hereabouts have next to realise . that in respect to water-power, Westland is richly gifted—but use is not | being made of the talents placed in our keeping. When it is stated that I experts have calculated that 30,000 I horse power may be developed at the j Toaroha, some seventeen or eighteen ' miles from the town of Hokitika, the significance of the good fortune of the | district to have this vast power on tap J will be apparent It will be the func- j tions of the Power Board to lead up j to the development of this or other lo- j cal power source, and in that task, the Board should have every encouragement ' for accomplished it will bring to West- ‘ land a great era of permanent pros- j perity.

Reference has just been made to the large mining enterprise on the south side of the Hokitika river. It was stated in the Wardens Court this week that the Company has spent already upwards of £60,000 in connection with its operations, and is now building a dredge to 'cost- £IIO,OOO to operate the mining area. Tile latter expenditure, of course, would not be undertaken, were it not that the earlier expenditure connected with the extensive prospecting, justified launching the large proposition. Tine ground has been proved to be richly gold-bearing and the promoters who are putting in such large sums of money to work the ground, are naturally very sanguine of a good return. It is well knoivn that the money for this large project is being found in the United States, and the operations will be under the direction of capable American engineers. 'The district is extremely fortunate in being selected as a field for operation, and being able to supply a tract of country which has prospected so promisingly. The association with outside capital brought across the seas to the Dominion, says something for the potency of the gold-mining industry, and it is to be regretted that the Government does not realise this fact, and itself display some practical effort to help promote and develop mining. However, the local example may he used an an object lesson when the Minister of Mines comes this way in a month or so. The development proceeding at Rimu Flat will be watched with interest, for on the outcome will rest similar enterprises in* other parts of tli is district. There is reason to believe that the operations of the dredge will give very encouraging results, and there is an optimistic feeling as to the prospects for a mining revival'ahead. The Warden's complimentary remarks on Thursday in regard to the operations of the Company appear to be fully justi-

fiod, Uh- the large undertaking is being put in band ill a very thorough way, and in such a manner that if the prospecting results are repeated by the actual gold dredging the Company will do moro tliah deserve success, it will command it.

, At the quarterly meeting of;the Canterbury Progress Leqgue this week, Mr G. H. Holford said the question of rural education has been considered ly a committee representing different organisations. Plans had been prepared to ascertain where rural school consolidation could.be carried out. The s i/.gcstion was that several small country schools should bo consolidated ifi'o tne largo one. There was a crying need for agricultural teachers in the Schools. 'There was a serious short in that direction. New Zealand teachers should bo trained in agriculture to fill th o gap. The time was opportune for New Zealand to consider the question, and as Canterbury was the cradle of education in the Dominion, th e province should make the pace in regard to rural education. Professor J. Shelley,. Professor of Education at Canterbury College, said that the cultural side of education should bo carefully considered. Really rural education was required for the town child as well as the country child. New Zealand was making the same mistake on that point as England had made. In town schools children were Bevered from the roots of their existence. It was recognised that books were of little value unless they were in direct touch with life. All ovqr England now, children were being sent from tho city schools to large farm schools in the country. A mistake had been made by modelling country schools on town schools. The question was more important to New Zealand than to England, because New Zealand depended mainly on rural industries, not on manufactures. The health of England had come from towns no larger than Christchurch. It was recognised " in England that it was highly important to bring the children of those towns into direct touch with rural education in rural districts. The only real culture that could develop in any country must be rooted in country life. In English towns, places 'a third of the size of Christchurch, there was found the k real backbone of England.

1 In New Zealand, continued the Professor, tho problem was easier of solution 'than in England. New Zealand, in education, should be a leader, not a 1 follower; it had led in otluir directions. New Zealand had conditions that Eng- ' land had been waiting for for many • years. People in Now Zealand had at 1 their doors, advantages that were re- ’ motq from the people of England, who " as, he has said, were being cut off from • the roots of their existence; in other ' words, from rural llife and culture. • Whore there was a complete life there was completo means of education; and, 1 as lie had said, complete life was to bo found only in "Hie country.- The attractions of tho towns were so strong to teachers that they were not satisfied until they went from country schools to town schools. Specially trained country teachers therefore were required. The 1 principle was established in Denmark, where the rural genius had compensat- | ed for territorial losses, as in the case of Schleswig-Holstein. The bias of the j Education Department in regard to ru- ] ral education should he destroyed; the | Department should think in the terms I of rural education. Examinations should I he altered in order that country schools j might make the most of their environr ments. Cultural value in education oould be obtained only when the sub- ! jects were taught in direct connection with the child’s environment. Science could be taught just as well in the environments of a country school as in a closed in laboratory in a tfewn. A new j attitude towards teaching and examinJ ing was needed. The rural tendency I must be developed. The consolidation of country schools, as suggested by Mr | Holford, was one of the solutions of the | problem. There should be rural edui cation based on rural thought and rural methods. England had not an easy i solution of the problem; New Zealand l had; the moral was obvious.