IF ONLY CANUTE HAD USED THE RADIO

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 406, 3 April 1947, Page 9

IF ONLY CANUTE HAD USED THE RADIO

Auckland Station Holds Back Waikato River

OW savings in water used for generating’ electric power could be made was vividly. demonstrated to 1ZB listeners the other Sunday evening. Dudley Wrathall conducted a short broadcast ‘from the Load Despatcher’s Office at Hamilton, and during the relay an experiment in saving electric power was made. Listeners were asked to switch off their lights to see ‘what effect this had on the meters at the Load Despatcher’s Office. The small group of men standing before the control panels waited for developments. In homes throughout the Auckland province hands reached for the light switches and in room after room, house after house, and town after’ town, elec-

tric lights flicked out, At Hamilton the watchers saw the meter needles swing. And _ they swung in the right direction. The experiment was a success. During a 3minute test, half-a-million gallons of . water were saved-_

equivalent to an eighth of an inch in the level of Lake Arapuni-and remained in the lake instead of whirling down through the penstocks and over the generator turbines. This dramatic illustration of what could be done when everyone cooperated in saving power started something. Could 1ZB assist in the saving of an even larger quantity of water? John Griffiths, manager of 1ZB, thought an even greater saving would be a certainty. Approval was given and 1ZB arranged a special water conservation programme for 8.30 on the following Wednesday night. Advertisers whose programmes are normally broadcast be-

tween 8.30 and 9 o’clock on Wednesday nights willingly offered to give up their time to the programme. John Griffiths conducted the programme at.1ZB, and at various times throughout the half-hour, the microphones were switched to the Load Despatcher’s Office at Hamilton where Dudley Wrathall was ‘waiting to give progress reports. The programme opened with a general statement of the power situation, including the warning that if no rain developed and the current power consumption continued Lake Taupo would be dry-for hydro-electric pur-poses-by Easter. An urgent appeal was then made to listeners to switch off lights for the duration of the programme, with the aim of saving 1,000,000 gallons of water in the half-hour. This appeal was made at 8.30. The efféct was encouraging beyond anything that 1ZB and the hydro-electric staff had dared to hope. In four minutes the needles in the Load Despatch .Office swung around and revealed a saving of 830,000 gallons of water. Two minutes later the total was 1,000,000. In six minutes 1ZB listeners were responsible for saving the amount of water that had been aimed for in 30 minutes. Hurried calculations were then made, and a new goal of 5,000,000 gallons was set. In the next six minutes enother million gallons were shut out of the turbines and by 8.45 it was realised that the response was so enthusiastic that no one could predict just how much water would be conserved by 9.0 p.m. The 8.45 total was 4,900,000, and when ,the appeal finished at 9 o'clock, E. W. Mathewson, officer in charge of the Load Despatch Office, announced that 9,300,00 gallons of water had been saved in 30 minutes. The way in which the water was saved was also a common question among the ’phone calls. As the demand for power slackened off, it was explained, governors on the genérators at the power ena)

house came into operation and started the mechanism closing the flood-gates, thus reducing the amount of water fequired to drive the turbines. | After this highly successful broadcast it seemed possible that radio appeals curing a week might effect a saving of a minimum of 30,000,000 gallons. In the second arfd third appeals, which were made on Friday and Sunday, March 21 and 23, a further 25,000,000 gallons of water was saved, making the total for the week 34,500,000 gallons-well over the objective hoped for. This saving of power is estimated to equal what would have been used by about 500,000 ordinary household lights.