The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1916. NATIONAL RESOURCES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 82, 3 November 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1916. NATIONAL RESOURCES.

A practical move for preventing Australi.i s metal trade from again fall.sog into tlie grip of Germany has PS‘l'o made in Tasmania, where a zinc e.m company is applying for the pq|’vaieht of 50,000 , horse-power per

awhum, from the Hydro-electric Depur; incut, which is harnessing the pressure of the Great Lake system to the ‘State’s industrial car. The Sydney Telegraph states that the use of water power in conjunction with electricity is accountable for some of the most marvellous industrial developments of the United States and 'other countries where no better facilities exist than in parts of the Commonwealth. An Australian company is projecting a big hydro-electric scheme for the recovery of tin in South America, yet the enormous power of its own great waterways remains for the most part dormant. It* is, however, by the employment of these natural forces that production of commodities may he cheapened to an

extent that will neutralise the ad-i vantage of greater manual power pos- * sessed by industrial competitors. “If,” the Telegraph concludes, “wo want to make our way after the war in the markets of the world, or to prevent German trade from finding its way by one channel or another into our own markets, we must be able to handle our great natural resources as economically as Germany can handle hers. To rely upon anything else would be suicidal. It is stated that the water power this one zinc company alone proposes to use will represent ,£IOO,OOO worth per annum. Hitherto this earning force has remained idle, yet.it only represents a. fraction of what the Tasmanian Lake scheme can supply. If Australia, had all the water pressure that might he similarly used throughout the Commonwealth earning money instead of going to waste, the effect would be equal to that of a gift- from the gods. But to get it into harness will require capital, and our legislation must not treat the suppliers of that essential as enemies of the country', and at the same time expect such works to materialise.”