NEW VISTA.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1920, Page 5

NEW VISTA.

VAST WATER-POWER SCHEME CHANGING BRITISH INDUSTRY. HARNESSING RIVER SEVERN. ! By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copjriglit. Received Nov. 20, 5.5 p.m. London, Nov. 25. The Ministry of Transport has evolved a great water-power scheme for harnessing the tides in the Severn, involving two separate proposed gigantic barrages across the estuary, preventing the water escaping wheA the tide ebbs, except through turbines, which will develop upwards of a million horse-power. The scheme would also provide an immense pumping station deriving electrical energy from the barrage for filling a vast high level reservoir for water storage against the time when water for the turbines is deficient. It is estimated the cost of generation will be approximately |d a unit, effecting a yearly saving of 4,000,000 tons of coal. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. TOLLER DETAILS. HALE MILLION HORSE-POWER. CHEAP LIGHT AND POWER. Received Nov. 28, 9.5 p.m, London, Nov. 20, The Transport Ministry's engineering department has published details of the world's greatest water-power scheme, utilising the Severn's tides in order to produce an estimated total of over half a million electrical horse-power per ten hour day. .Niagara only furnishes 285,000. In the Ministry's words the scheme possesses limitless attractions, opening a vista which will involve little short of industrial revolution in Wales and the western Midlands of England, effectively solving traffic problems in that region, and bringing within reach of all classes of the community the blessings of cheap light and power. The scheme proposes the construction of a barrage across the Severn in the vicinity of the Severn tunnel. The tide would be admitted through swinging sluices, automatically closing when the tide began to fall, the water passing instead through gigantie turbines, capable of generating a million horse-power. A subsidiary scheme, which itself is gigantic, proposes a vast high level lake in the \\ve Valley above Tintern Abbey. The surplus horse-power generated by the turbines would be utilised to pump water to the lake, being forced en route through a tunnel a mile in length and forty feet in diameter. This lake would be used to supply reserve power when the tidal power, during neap tides, was below requirements. It is believed the lake project would solve a difficult problem of assuring an ample and constant supply of power, which arises from the fact that the neap tides furnish only one-quarter of t':e power ot the spring tides. The derivative projects are themselves of the first magnitude. Some would Create a shipping bnse covering twenty-seven square miles, much o,f which would be usable, bv the largest vessels in any state of the fide. The shores would be suitable for great, .industrial undertakings, while deep-ivator wharves could easily be constructed. This would revolutionise the canal system of England by providing direct ti'tishipment from the great industrial centres. The dam would carry several rail tracks, dispensing'with the objectionable Severn tunnel, and also roads, including a concrete road for motor transport, saving a fifty-mile deviation through Gloucester. Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Gibb developed the main lines of the scheme, and two leading engineers worked out the details. The Ministry says little as regards the financial and commercial aspects, but it estimates that <be power would be produced at a cost of %d per Board of Trade unit. It would save the nation about 4,000X100 tons of coal a year, besides establishing a new shipping and industrial region. One newspaper understands the scheme would cost £J20,000,000 to £30,000,000, cmploying 250,'000 men for seven years. Newspaper comment is cautious, though welcoming the project as conI taining illimitable possibilities, but (pointing out that it had yet to be , proved as a commercial proposition.— Aus.-N.Z, Cable Assn. fThe River .Setcrn I>a» its source in Wales, and it flovl;. to Shrewsbury, through Shropshire and Worcestershire to Tewkesbury, then througls Gloucester, below which it forms an estuary opening into the Bristol Channel. Canals connect the Severn with the Thames and the Trent. The longest railway tunnel in England passes under the Severn.]