SOUTH ISLAND POWER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 129, 16 March 1950, Page 4

SOUTH ISLAND POWER

RAIN BADLY NEEDED DEPARTMENT ISSUES WARNING (P.A.) WELLINGTON, March 15. A warning that unless rain fell in the South Island within a reasonable time the present consumption of electricity would have to be reduced was given by the general manager of the .State Hydro-electric Department (Mr A. E. Davenport) this evening. He said that he had been giving; that advice to local supply authorities for some weeks. Mr Davenport ‘will - visit . Christchurch on Tuesday to preside ‘over a meeting of the South Island Electricity Advisory Committee, which will consider the supply position as . a whole. He ,will then visit the West Coast before returning to' Wellington, when he will issue a .full, statement. The level of Lake Pukaki has dropped by at least ' two feet in recent months, states a report from the Fairlie correspondent of “The Press.” For some months more water has been allowed to leave the lake than has flowed in, and the tributaries which feed the lake are not carrying a very heavy volume of water. Even the flow from the main tributary, the Tasman River, is quite small. There have been no heavy mountain rains to swell the streams. .When the first part of the spillway was completed some months ago it was thought that the storage level of the lake .would be built up, but there has been no extra water to conserve, and in fact the level has fallen. Water was required for the Waitaki scheme, and it had to be released from the lake. MARAETAI DAM PROJECT GOOD PROGRESS MADE WITH WORK (P.A.) AUCKLAND, March 15. By the time the Maraetai dam is finished it is hoped to have three of five 36,000 kilowatt generators in the power-house ready for operation. This was learned to-day by members and senior officers of the Auckland Electric Power Board when they visited Maraetai' and the recently begun Whakamaru power schemes on the Waikato River. Previous assessments of the part Maraetai will play in relieving the power shortage have mainly been based on the assumption that one generating unit only would be ready for service when the scheme becomes workable at the end of 1951 or early in 1952,' the remaining units following at, perhaps, six-monthly intervals. Very good progress has been made with the work in recent months, and the early installation of the generating units will be helped by the decision to build the framework of the power-house in structural steel, and to fill it in. later. { ROXBURGH GORGE POWER PLANT WORKS DEPARTMENT T° . COMPLETE JOB

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, March 15. The Roxburgh Gorge hydro-electric construction scheme will be completed by the Works Department, whjch is well advanced with its organisation. The Minister of Works (Mr W. S. Goosman) stated this to-day when he was asked if there was a possibility of the work befng thrown open to overseas and New Zealand contractors. v >, • . ■