Electric Power

Levin Daily Chronicle, 6 February 1917, Page 3

Electric Power

•NORTH ISLAND PROJECTS. ' Speaking to an Evening Post reporter on the. subject of 'the utilisation of water for tlie production of electricity :in the North Island, the Minister for Public Works (Hon. W. Eraser) said that .large expenditure is involved and only intitial work can be expected for the present. Surveys are being made, and within a reason able period' .the schemes settled upon by the Govednment will be made known. Butt the carrying out of the schemes cannot be a matter of immediate consummation. The large outlay involved is the first difficulty, and if all the money were available that is required the apparatus' necessary is not on hand. To a largo extent irt is manufactured in Geneva, and importations must be slow, but there is no reason why Great Britain should not be able to duplicate t!io

machinery required. The Minister added that with the counsel of his expert officers he has practically decided on three schemes of securing waiter power: one for "Wellington as far as Palm erf-ton Noith, another for the East Coast of the North Island, and the third for the Auckland province. It would he possible to have one big scheme for the whole of the North Island, but tho objection is that it would involve the making of new roads in inaccessible country. It is absolutely essential that there should be roads alongside the routes for electrical transmission, and their'formation simply for hydroelectrical purposes is out of the question. Lines for the best route of transmission are now ebing made so fair as the Auckland district is concerned, and the isame may be said regarding the Wellington distriot.