LONDON BY CANDLELIGHT

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5326, 12 February 1947, Page 4

LONDON BY CANDLELIGHT

/YNLY one degree removed 1 from black-out blitz con- 1 ditions is the state of England to-day. In only one coal-pro- . ducing country in Europe — Poland — is sufficient coal being c.ut for industrial and domestic needs, leaving an exportable surplus, a^id this is going to Russia. Electricity cuts and the reduction in coal supplies together are calculated to reduce production in British industry by 25 to 33 per cent of the level of the last quarter of 1946 and even when the coming thaw allows of better transport, the continuing coal shortage will permanently lower production by 15 to 20 per cent. This is said # to be a conservative estimate. 1 It is beside the point at the moment to attempt to apportion blame for the severe crisis which has been precipitated by the inordinately severe winter. Undoubtedly, optimistic forecasts of increased production immedi-.. ately following the nationalisation of the coal mines have not been realised and if, as has been forecast, this shortage is going to continue indefinitely, the country will have to bend its energies to exploring other means of producing power. The answer that a New Zealander j would most readily give would I be hydro-electrical development, j but even if the water power j were available, which excepting in the case of Scotland, is problematical, such enterprises wTill take years to bring output up to the extent clemanded by industrv's existing needs. All Europe, including the British Isles, will hardly have built/up enough coal stocks in the coming summer hefore winter descends again. with its increased demands for fuel. In the meantime, London and the nrovincial cities and towns are working by candlelight and hurricane lamps. As living j slandards rise, consumption i needs are on a constantly increasing level. For example, the output of electricity, which is mainly produced from coal fuel, has increased from 24,000 million kilowatts in 1939 "to. 38,000 million kilowatts to-day. ! With gen orators strained to the utmost and unable to instal new plant or build new sub-stations during the intervening years, the system has now reached its full capacity under normal conditions ; not those ofcan Arctic winter. Last month, dieselfuelled submarines were ordered to the naval dockyards of Portsmouth, Devonport and Sheerness to supply light and power to shore installations and to relieve pressure on the national grid system. Yet in Norway, less than 300 miles from Britain's coasts, the mountain torrents are supplying only 13,000 kilowatts annually — one-sixth of the power they are capable of generating. This figure, soon to rise to 80,000 millions, will leave Norway with a huge exportable surplus. Technicians have worked out a scheme for supplying Britain- with direct eur-rent by huge insulated. submarine cables from Bergen to Scotland/ j Initial costs would be high, but i operational expenses low and it j is claimed tbat the plan is econo- j mically justified. In default of the dream of atomic energy being realised much sooner than we are at present permitted to hope, would this not- be the means of giving Britain the power she so urgently needs?