in Home, Factory and On the Land

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 103, 22 July 1927, Page 7 (Supplement)

in Home , Factory and On the Land

power they were studying, and are perpetuated through their application as technical terms. There was Volta, of Pavia —by his name the strength of currents is measured. And there were Ampere, of France, G. S. Ohm, and Galvani. Several men whose contributions were epoch-making left no such abiding memorials. Franklin, the American, and Faraday and Wheatstone, of England, were distinguished men in the field of electrical research. All of them did their part toward the development which now permits a housewife to clean her carpets or press her clothes with the aid of electricity. * * * With the steam engine, the telephone, and the printing press, the invention of the dynamo ranks as one of the great events in the history of man. It has taken industry from the coalfields in which it formerly had to stay, and In a host of ways it has altered the complexion of the human existence. Before that could happen, before industry could be transplanted, electric power had to be generated and transmitted. There have been, and still are, propounded many fantastic schemes for the utilisation of various forces for the generation of electricity.

In this there is one dominant natural feature—mountains. Countries whose streams rise in mountain groups beyond the border are unhappily situated in these days when hydro-elec-tricity is the cheapest form of current. England, for instance, is still almost entirely lacking in hydro electric resource. Nearly all her huge power plants are coal driven. In some the tailings of the collieries are used. In others mighty internal combustion engines—motors built on a colossal scale—help to pound the nation’s power through the wires from which hosts of consumers absorb it.

France is another unlucky country, but it is better placed than England. Belgium and Holland possess no elevated bodies of water. Scandinavia, on the other hand, is rich therein, and New Zealand is situated as fortunately as any.

Wind and Water

Wind and water, . down the ages, have provided much of the world’s power. In the picturesque streams of England there are still mill wheels which turn beenath flickering cascades. But more often, now, the revolving shaft is connected to a generating motor, instead of to a flour mill, and the ancient wheel serves a double purpose. Whenever the mill near the Grafton Bridge flings its wings with the breeze, Aucklanders see a demonsration of another age-old power. Like the water mills of old, windmills too, are oft/n employed to produce electricity, but the cheapest generating force, where conditions are at all suitable, will always be water from which a direct fall can be obtained. Cataracts that formerly were nought but the delight of sightseers now serve a lowlier but more material purpose—they turn powerful turbines which send power forth over many miles of wire. So are the largest falls of the world, Victoria, on the Zambesi, and Niagara, in America, harnessed to answer the needs of civilisation. Both are controlled, for power production purposes, by private companies, and Niagara’s waters carry the stupendous load of 700,000 kilowats. Arapuni, New Zealand’s latest, will for the present yield about onetenth of that harvest. It is a remarkable reflection of the development of electricity that the Niagara and Victoria Falls have been harnessed by private companies, who trade in the power as if it were any other commodity. They distribute it to customers, just as a butcher sells meat. The business of purveying power has become one of the key undertakings of the world. Such is its importance that here in New Zealand the Government has been a primary mover in having the country's power resources developed. Whether it has moved with the rapidity which the richness of those resources justified is a matter on which differing opinions are held.

Meanwhile the country is coming to the fore as one in which the streams bouncing from its mountains have not been allowed to run entirely un-

► shackled. Sweden, which is lit from end to end by electricity, and traversed by a network of overhead transmission lines is yet well ahead of Maoriland. So is North America, where long lines of trestles march across leagues of country, supporting lines that deliver current to distant cities. But all the same New Zealand has not been altogether backward, and the day when an inter-rented system of separate schemes will be operating in unison is drawing closer with every yard of concrete laid at Arapuni, and with every stick hoisted to spread the reticulation network across the country.

Mountain Torrents

As far as hydro-electric resources go, New Zealand is infinitely better off than Australia, where the mountains do not reach the elevation, nor the scenic grandeur, of the New Zealand ranges. Indeed, for its size, this country must have nearly as many potential power sources as any territory on the globe.

Few of New Zealand’s streams could not, at some stage or other of their course, supply means for the installation of a satisfactory plant, but as the demand is at present not so keen as to justify extravagance, while it is undoubtedly more economical to build a few large plants than a. number of small ones, which generally tackle the problem piecemeal, only a few of the sources cf power are being tapped. It has throughout been a matter of discrimination in choosing the locations offering the best facilities, rather than of enterprise in discovering fresh resources. Still, it is probable that in inaccessible mountain country are hidden streams which would be nearly ideal for hydro-electric development, and doubtless there will always be incalculable horse-power bounding to waste on the mountain sides of New Zealand. Those power sources which have been developed, or are under realisation, differ widely in character. Waipori, near Dunedin, is one of the ideal works of the Dominion. For many years, ever since an American engineer named Starke came out from Schenectady and pronounced it nearly

perfect in the facilities it offered, it has been a power source for Dunedin, and has rarely failed the Otago city. Further north is Lake Coleridge. It is perhaps a commentary on the North Island’s lack of enterprise that Lake Coleridge, which supplies Christchurch, and Waipori, supplying Dunedin, were developed and producing power before any major hydro-electric scheme in the North Island was tackled. Horahora was the first big northern scheme, and it has long been a powerful factor in supplying the Auckland Province with light and power.

Then came Mangahao, to reach which the engineers went into the heart of the Tararuas, blocking the narrow chasms traversed by elevated mountain streams, and turning the waters through a tunnel running beneath the jagged crest of the range. From the western end of the tunnel the enormous pipe-line slants away down the mountain side, and down near Shannon the whirring turbines in the white-walled power-house churn out power which is sent all over the Wellington Province.

In Taranaki the Tariki power scheme will bring into operation a power-house on the bank of the Waitara River. Through' a range of hills, a tunnel will bring water, at high pressure, from an inland artificial lake, and thus the greedy turbines will be fed.

Waikaremoana may be the greatest power source of all. The enchanted lake, trimmed by mountain battlements, is a natural storage basin, just as Taupo is a storage basin for the Waikato, but from Waikaremoana the outlet stream has an infinitely steeper fall, and its turbulent waters seem simply to scream for the installation of a huge power plant. Hitherto the main difficulty has been the comparative remoteness of the locality. It is near none of the great industrial districts where the demand for power is keen, and growing keener. But the future plans of the Public Works Department provide for a scheme in which Mangahao, Waikaremoana, Arapuni and the others will all be dovetailed. Ranks of trestles will bridge river valleys and march across mountains, and if a breakdown occurs

at one power-house the others will automatically take up the extra load. Arapuni, primarily to supply the Auckland Province, is in some respects the most wonderful and compact scheme of the lot, and the effects of its ultimate development will be farreaching.

Machine Counts Money

No longer will Auckland live in the shadow of a possible power shortage. The demand for electrical devices, for home, office and factory is certain then to increase immeasurably. As it is, architects and builders testify that electricity is now the general thing for home lighting. One Auckland architect stated that in seven years he had not designed for any gas installation, except for cookers, in any locality where electric reticulation was at hand. The trend in cooking arrangements is interesting, and gas and electric ranges have entirely superseded the old wood or coal-burning ranges. Irons, vacuum cleaners, sewing machines, dish-washers, refrigerators, and washing machines are all operated by electric current. There are many homes in Auckland that are completely electrified. One, in Burwood Crescent, Remuera, is a model, and the housewife rarely has recourse to severe manual labour, so efficient and complete are her electrical appliances. The remarkable facility with which electricity can be turned to various uses has allowed it to change the complexion of many tasks. There is, for instance, an electric car washer, which is claimed to provide an entirely new standard of car washing. In the Bank of England are thirty electric money counting machines, the last word in ingenuity, which count mixed coins into separate bags with unfailing accuracy. There are electric clocks, electric timing devices, whereby record-breaking motors, whizzing by at bullet-speed, are timed to the fraction, and elec-rically-heated baths. * * * If Aladdin’s lamp, producing a genei whenever it was touched, could cover a range of more effective performances than electricity commands to-day, then no one will question the value he set on it. Not a whit less valuable than Aladdin’s, however, is the electric lamp which lights the world today.. And because it is the typical representation of a wonderful magic force—the electricity that man has made his servant —the electric lamp can be considered to go one better than Aladdin’s.