DOMINION WATER POWER.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 April 1921, Page 3

DOMINION WATER POWER.

GREAT POSSIBILITIES. YEAR BOOK FIGURES. WELLINGTON, April; 21. One, of the few special articles in the latest Official Year /Book deals with the development of electric power from New Zealand’s sources of water power. A lengthy schedule of the possible sources of supply shows that no portion of the Dominiin is far away from a supply, if it is developed, and that the total amount available from all sources reaches the impressive figure of 4,076,000 horse-power. A considerable number of the sources indicated are, it L stated, suitable for general industrial development, but the largest ones, being in tho unsettled portions of the South Island and near deep water sounds, are particularly suitable for utilisation in connection with electrochemical'or electro-metallurgical industries. Thus, there may be in the future, a source of wealth for New Zealand enterprise at present untapped, and almost unthought of. j Compared with the possibilties, the] actualities are extremely modest, the 1 amount of power in use in 1920, being • 47,983 horse-power. The only provinces using five-figure supplies are Auckland, with 15,420 horse-power, Canterbury 11,491, Otago 10,715. The most recent State hydro-electric scheme is that based on the purchase from the Waihi Gold Mining C 0.,, of the Horahora station. The operation by the State for the five months ended March 31, 1920, resulted in a gross revenue of £5803, or £3933 in excess of working expenses. After allowing for interest on the purchase money of £212.500, and 2 per cent depreciation, there was a net loss of £2122. This scheme will doubtless have a similar history to that of the successful Coleridge scheme, whicTi under increasing production has lowered its running costs, until they are down to £6.75 per kil. sub-station maximum, compared with 7.02 for the Horahora scheme in its present incomplete stage. The allocation of the power from Horahora is as follows: Thames Valley Power Board, 700 horse-power; To Awamntii Power Board, 600; Cambridge Power Board, 200; Central, 350; Hamilton Borough, 300; Waihi Borough, 50. Total 2400.