The Times. Published on Tuesday and Friday Afternoons. TUESDAY, JANUARY 18th, 1921. ELECTRIC SCHEMES FOR FRANKLIN.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 600, 18 January 1921, Page 2

The Times. Published on Tuesday and Friday Afternoons.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 18th, 1921. ELECTRIC SCHEMES FOR FRANKLIN.

•• ' t “We nothing extenuate, nor aught set clown in malice.”

Apart from the; great hydro-electric plants which the Government is establishing in various .parts of the Dominion, a number of districts are promoting the instalment of minor schemes of their own. In the western part of the Franklin County at the* present ttae two projects are advancing towards the stage where we may expect to sec something tangible resulting. In the Mauku district the proposal is to form al power-board for the. purpose of harnessing a water Call near Patuma-J hoe and distributing the power among the milking-sheds of the district. Lighting is of course taken into consideration, but the primary motive is to enable the farmer to dispense with the use of benzine, whic is every yea*" becoming dearer and scarcer. It lis estimated that by impounding the water at least one hundred horse power v<3l be available at the rush hours of the morning and evening, sufficient to drive from forty to fifty milking machines. In the Waj'fiku district a much larger and more pretentious scheme is on foot. An attempt is being made to float a company with a capital of £IOO,OOO to buy out a company at present electrically lighting the Waiuku village. If successfully established the company will endeavour to obtain from the Minister for Public Works the sole right to sell power throughout an area extending six miles from the boundaries of the Wniuk'u town district in all directions. As no water power is available, coal will have to be looked to to provide the motive force. Unfortunately a little friction between the two schemes appears inevitable unless one or the othc«r recedes from the position taken up. Trc Frank\}n Electric Supply and TradingCo., as the Waiuku venture is termed has obtained fybni the Franklin County Council an option giving it the sole ifght to sell m0t0,." power over about half the Mauku district. It is hardly to be expected that a concern dependent upon the activities of the gentle coal miner will be able to sell its power at so low a price as that supplied by a waterfall that is not controlled by a federation, and is not infected by the microbe of indignity which produces the " goslow policy." Should the Minister confirm the option so hastily granted" by the CounqrT halftTie farmers in Mauku would be compelled to purchase their electricity from a proprietary company even if their own local concern were able to supply them at half the rate. The general use of electricity on the farms would give the prosperity of Franklin so great a fillip that we sincerely trust that means will be found to so readjust the respective spheres of activity tha-t neither scheme may be The adyantatges of a hydro-electric scheme over a coal-driven one are so patent that the Mauku farmers can scarcely be expected to forego them. A proposal has been made that the .boundary of the Mauku and Waiuku ridings shall also be the dividing line for electric power supply, and this appears so reasonable that the Franklin Electric Supply and Trading Co. will probably willingly fall in with it if properly approached.