WATER POWER SCHEME.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 February 1917, Page 5

WATER POWER SCHEME.

, THREE FOR NORTH ISLAND. ' For nearly an hour one morning last week the Minister for Public Works, ■ the Hon. W. Fraser, conferred with a deputation representing the \\ ellinaton City Council and adjacent local bodies, on tlie subject of the Government inaugurating a hydro-electric scheme which would obviate the necessity of their entering upon a scries of minor schemes for the. generation of electric power for local purposes. In replying, the Minister said he could not consider the Wellington scheme without considering schemes for the whole of the North Island. The first question to be considered was the main source of the supply, of power. One of the llrsj, things Mr. Tarry, chief electrical engineer, hart thought of was to get one central source' of power for the whole of the North Island. It might have been possible to do so, but there were difficulties in the way, the chief being tluw tlie lines of transmission would have had to go over very long distances, perhaps hundreds of miles, and there would have to be a road alongside. It had been decided to have ihn three sources, so far as fliey could deciiie anything at present. The source for Wellington would be the Mangahao river The total cost of supplying Wellington, Palmerston. Wnnganui, and district would be £1,000,000, including the transmission plant. In any case, however, Parliament would have to pass the scheme before anything could be done, hut while the war was on, machinery could not be imported. It was intended to create "20,000 horsepower. It was not- necessary to create the whole of it right away, and he had asked for an, estimate of what it would cost to supply Wellington with about 10,000 horse-power and had found it could be' done for about £4-IS,OOO. The Department iiad not considered any scheme which would cost more than £2O per hoTse-powec capital cost. If Parliament agreed, there was noth. ing to prevent certain preliminary work; being carried out, 'but in any case he did not think they would get power to Wellington until two years and a half or three years after the works hud been commenced.