THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1907. HARNESSING VICTORIA FALLS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8337, 21 January 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1907. HARNESSING VICTORIA FALLS.

It is anticipated that the colossal scheme for harnessing the Victoria Falls, on the Zambesi River, will be in partial operation in two years. The promoters confidently expect to save £1,000,000 a year in the cost of working the mines of the Rand. Eminent scientific among whom is Lord Kelvin —are "f opinion that the scheme is not only practicable, but comparatively easy „of accomplishment, and that the site is an ideal one for the purpose. The distance over which the power will have to be conveyed (over 600 miles) will-be considerably the longest yet attempted, but k electrical engineers hold that theoretically there is no limit to the distance over which power may be conveyed. The power developed at the falls is said to be almost inconceivable. The width of the river at the falls is 1,900 yards, and the drop is equal to the height of St. Paul's, London. The whole of the water then rushes through a narrow gorge for several miles. There is here a natural concentration of water-power such as is found nowhere else. The powerhouse will be situated 350 feet below the falls, and will be concealed, so as not to impair the beauty of the greatest natural spectacle Jn Africa.

The electricity will be carried to Johannesburg by cables on steel towers 1,000 feet apart. All spare power will be used to pump water into the reservoir at the top of a high hill, where it will form a reserve supply of energy. The manager of the company is very optimistic about the effect of the scheme in South Africa. "In that great subcontinent, unhappily, work requiring unskilled labour cannot, as a rule, be performed by white men," he says. "In these circumstances it becomes of the highest social and political importance to increase as far. as possible the economic opportunities for white skilled labour.. The establishment of great industries at the falls themselves, the supply of water for irrigation to agriculturists, and the provision of cheap power to the mines in the Transvaal will all tend to give greater employment to European labour, and will help to redress the balance between white and black." It is said that 750,000 people are dependent upon Niagara for their livelihood, although less than 500,000 horse-power has been harnessed. The addition of half that number of white inhabitants would mean much to South Africa. ,