HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1921, Page 4

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

A SCHEME FOR TIMARU. PROPOSALS DISCUSSED. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Timaru, Last Night. About a hundred men, representative of the Development League, local Bodies and business, visited Lake Tekapo yesterday to inspect the site of a proposed hydro-elec-tric tunnel. They were shown plans prepared by surveyors, who explained that a tunnel of 77 chains, with a few chains of open work, would give a fall of over 70 feet, extensible to 90 feet by a tail pipe from the turbine. The river is now very low, and is estimated to give 3200 cusecs, but a tunnel 16 feet in diameter, and with a 10ft. fall would take 2000 cusecs, giving 16,000 horse-power. Mr. A. D. Dobson, late city engineer in Christchurch, who had much to do with electricity there, was present and spoke favorably of the scheme, but he recommended the preparation of data for tunnelling, as the Cost would depend much on the nature of the material. Mr. T. D. Burnett, M.P., stated that he had described the proposition to Mr. Otto Boving, a Swiss expert, now in Wellington, who said it seemed a first-rate proposition, and that sixteen to seventeen thousand horsepower was an ideal size. There is a good site for a power house, accessible to traction engines and near the main road.