HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 257, 9 March 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

The problem involved in making tho best use of the country's water-power i, one of the most important matters with which our public men are called upon to deal. Just now, of course, there can bo nothing ia the nature of actual progress. Under existing war conditions money, for other than war purposes, is short, and the necessary machinery is not available. It is, however, pleasing to know that the centres more particularly interested, including Wanganui, are moving with the object of clearing the way for definite action as soon alter the termination of the war as possible. For nearly an hour on Wednesday morning the Minister of Public Works (Hon. W. Fraser) conferred with representatives of the Wellington City Council and adjacent local bodies on the subject of the possibility of the Government inaugurating a hydro-electric scheme which would obviate the necessity of their entering upon a series of minor schemes for tlcj generation of electric power for local purposes. The deputation put before the Minister the pressing needs of Wellington ia particular, and the adjacent local bodies in general for a larger volume of electric power, as already emphaised, and, in regard to Wellington particularly, it was urged that the city should know what the Government proposed to do in the direction of developing the water-power, before committing itself to further expenditure on steam-production. In replying, the Minister said lie could not consider the Wellington scheme without considering schemes for the whole of the North Island. Mr Parry, Chief Electrical Engineer, had prepared an interim report on the subject, which he would hand to tho Press. The first question to be considered was the main source of tho supply of rower. One of the first things Mr Parry had thought of was to get one central station, one central source of power, for the whole of the North Island. It might have lx?en possible to do so, but there were difficulties in the way, the chief being that tho lines of transmission would have had to go over very long distances, perhaps hundreds of miles, and there must be a road alongside. Proceeding, the Minister said it had been decided —>o far as they could decide anything at present—t-> have three sources. Tho source for Wellington would be tho Mangahao River. Tho total cost of supplying Wellington, Palmerston, Wanganui, and district would be £1,000,000. That would include tho transmission plant. In any case, 1 owever, Parliament would have to \iss the scheme before anything could be done. He recognised that Wellington would bo the biggest consumer, and therefore produce the largest return in the quickest time. But it had to be remembered that while the war was <n machinery could not be imported. In the course of a long and exhaustive report, Mr Parry, after reporting adversely on the Hutt River as a source of supply, and pointing out tho advantages offered bv the Mangahao River, strongly advocates tho policy of concentration. As regards tho area to be supplied, Mr Parry points out tiiat there is an economic limit to tho area over which a given amount of power can bo distributed, and one of the obstacles to a satisfactory scheme of ;;owor supply in New Zealand at present is the small amount of power required i>er square liiiTo or area supplied. Having regard to this principle, and stretching it to the limit, we should, he says, be working on economical lines in serving the following districts from this source—the whole ol the \Y ellington province as far north as Taihape and Wanganui, and the southern portion of ITa who's Bay. He proposes in the first place torun trunk lines to Wellington, Palmerston North, Wanganui, and .Masterton as chief centres, and from these centres, as well as from intermediate .

points on the trunk lines to provide the diYnrihution lines ,and suh-statifns to serve the surrounding districts. Jt is (jiiitc probahle, as Afr Pain says, that the development of the .Matifiahao would help Wellington out of a difficulty, hut it is not so certain that it would prove the best and most, economical schrmo for this roast, and it will he for our representatives at the forthcoming Palmerstoii Conference to endeavour to secure full and impartial consideration for any alternative scheme which may seem better suited to our interests.