ELECTRICAL NEEDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 291, 29 February 1928, Page 12

ELECTRICAL NEEDS

NORTH SEEKS ITS OWN POWER SCHEME BEFORE CONFERENCE (From Our Own Correspondent) WHANG ARE I, To-day. important conference of local bodies was held in Whangarei yesterday to consider the possibility of the electrification of North Auckland. •Representatives were present from the counties of Mangonui, Bay of Islands, Hokianga, Whangarei, Otamatea and Hobson, and the boroughs of Whangarei, Dargaville and the town boards of Hikurangi and Kamo. Air. Allen Bell, M.P., also attended. Air. L. Webb, chairman of the Whangarei County Council, presided. Air. Lloyd- Alandeno, of Auckland, consulting engineer, outlined a scheme for electrical supply from the North’s own resources. He said that if Government power was not obtainable at attractive rates a source of power could be economically developed from Lake 6mapere, which lies a few miles north of Kaikohe. He had made careful records of Lake Omapere this summer, and had definite information as to its supply during the driest season for the last 25 years. Omapere, linked with the Wairua .Falls plant, would form a very reliable and economical arrangement, capable of generating more power than was used last year in the Thames Valley or Southland Province, and the cost of generating would not exceed one-fifth of a penny a unit when fully utilised. A LAND SURVEY

Mr Alandeno recognised the cost of distribution would greatly exceed the cost of generation, and urged that the first step toward the proposed electrification of North Auckland should be the obtaining of a load survey in detail. Statistical comparison of North Auckland with either districts showed that North Auckland was in an exceptionally favourable position to make electrification profitable.

Statistics proved the output of butter was increasing much more quickly from North Auckland than from the rest of New Zealand, and by the time the power board was ready to commence supply the position would be correspondingly improved. North Auckland had, besides the ~ industry, freezing works, quarries, mines, and other large users anxious to get power. PROGRESS IN NORTH

As to the cost of the scheme, it was impossible to say what Ah is would be without definite information regarding the cost of rural distribution, but the statistics he had collected regarding increasing population and the industries of North Auckland confirmed tne contention that a load survey was worth while. He mentioned the phenomenal increase of business on the North Auckland railways. While but-ter-fat production in New Zealand had increased 58 per cent, from 1922 to 1927, North Auckland in the same period had increased 71 per cent. The increase of white population in New Zealand in the 1915-26 period was only 19 per cent., while in North Auckland, with reduced employment in the timber and gum industries, over the same period, the increase of white population was 26 per cent. After consulting the managers of North Auckland dairy factories, he estimated this year’s butter production would be nearly 10,000 tons.

On such an output it was possible to estimate an electrical revenue of £IOO,OOO. Tauranga, with an output of 2,000, had a power board revenue of £16,000 from county districts alone. Regarding capital required for the scheme it would not be cautious to attempt to estimate the output, but he suggested less than one-tenth of what had been spent on the North Auckland railways. ACTION ENDORSED

After discussion, a resolution, proposed by Mr. F. A. Jones, Mayor of Dargaville, was carried unanimously, affirming that the time was ripe for North Auckland reticulation with electric power; also, a further resolution recommending all local bodies north of Waitemata to authorise a load survey in their several districts.