Steam Gave the Answer

Te Ao Hou, April 1955, Page 10

Steam Gave the Answer Until September, 1952, the feeding, mustering and shearing of stock grazing about the Tarawera river was the most urgent matter in Kawerau. At that time a government geologist made the discovery that was to transform the settlement to the most up-to-date, highest-pressure industrial centre in New Zealand. In itself there was nothing sensational about discovering geothermal steam. The Maoris had always known of it; it may well have been because of the geothermal steam that Tuwharetoa settled on that spot and it was the site of such populous pas. To people living in the stone age, an abundant supply of hot water available without effort was a priceless possession. Right through the ages, the Maoris of Kawerau have bathed in the pools which are now to supply Tasman's geothermal steam.

It was left to modern science to discover that a reservoir of steam confined under the earth can produce a long-lasting supply of electric power, drive machines and heat huge industrial boilers. In New Zealand large scale experiments are still continuing to produce such power at Wairakei; but at Lardarello, in Italy, geothermal steam has been successfully used for the last thirty years for power generation and for the extraction of chemicals. At Lardarello, the steam was easier to harness than it will be at Wairakei or at Kawerau, but nowhere can the sensation have been greater than at Kawerau, because of the very fortunate time of the discovery. In June, 1952, the giant Tasman Pulp and Paper Company had been registered. The all-important question of the site of the mill had not yet quite been decided, although it had been studied off and on for twenty-five years. Ngaruawahia, Mount Maunganui and various other places had been rejected and Murupara, although for various reasons not quite ideal, had been tentatively chosen by the company. The discovery of steam at Kawerau, offering prospects of savings in coal of up to 50,000 tons per year, made it easy to come to a decision. Apart from its steam, Kawerau offers an abundant water-supply—life-blood of a paper-mill—and a flat plain good for industrial building.