The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1910. OUR WASTED WATER-POWER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 71, 24 March 1910, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1910. OUR WASTED WATER-POWER.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resisiasct, For the future in the distance* A.nd tite good that we gvji do.

I Government has decided to ask ParI liament authority to expend as much as £500,000 a year in developing fox industrial and commercial purposes the immense store of water-power now running to waste in out rivers, lakes and rapids. This proposal suggests a gTea-t many possibilities in the way of exploiting our vast natural resources, and we have no doubt that it will be sympathetically ! received by both Houses. But the condii tion with which it is coupled may not i improbably give rise to a certain amount of controversy, for the Premier holds that the country should retain possession, of the sources of waier-rwwer, and that they should not even be leased to private enterprises ■without carefully safeguarding the interests of the State and the people. As Sir Joseph Ward suggests, private trading concerns would be likely to charge far more than the State for the uee of the power generated from sources under their control. But whatever be the position.with regard to the system of leasing, we approve heartily of Government's determination to utilize our water-power on a large scale, and we concur entirely in its decision not to alienate to private individuals natural resources of such inestimable public value. It is not likely that many of our readers have any adequate idea of the prodigious amount of energy that could be generated from New Zealand's water supply. The reports of M. Allo. Mr. P. S. Hay, and Mr. Hancock, who have made exhaustive investigations into the matter, all date back some five or six years, and the extremely valuable information u-hich they compiled i≤ mostly buried in blue books and official records, in which the general public usually takes little interest. Yet the facts, when duly interpreted, are remarkably impressive and significant. Even expert opinions vary as to the exact amount of electrical energy that j could be produced from our water supply, but, taking- the lowest possible estimate, the sum total is simply prodigious. According to Mr. P. S. Hay, the amount of motive force available for continuous working from the water supply of both islands combined is about 3,700,000 horse power; and though. Mr. Hancock's estimate is considerably les3 —about 2.200,000 horse power—even this represents as much fixed steam power as was required for the whole industrial work of the United Kingdom twenty years ago. As to individual sources of supply, the estimates again vary widely; but the general impression conveyed is for practical purposes the same. Taking the more important points in the North Island, it seems that the Huka Falls could supply something less than 40,000 horse power, the Aratiatia Kapids from 60,000 to 90,000 horse power, Lake Waikaremoana from I SO.OOO to 140,000 horse power, the i (Okere Falls perhaps 70,000 horse power, and the Eangitikei River about 50,000 horse power. In the South Island, which apparently has five or six times as much latent energy at its disposal as the North, it is calculated that Lake Coleridge could supply from 70,000 to 90,000 horse power, the Waimakariri and the Clarence Rivers each over 100,000 horse power, Lake Tekapo from 300,000 to 500,000 horse power, Te Anau anything up to 700,000 horse power,. Manapouri from 200,000 to 400,000 horse power, and so on. The total is, as we have said, prodigious, and we have it on the highest scientific authority that the conditions for utilising this huge accumulation of power, now entirely wasted, are as favourable as in any other country in the world. When the suggestion for harnessing our rapids and rivers and waterfalls was first put forward, the study of electrical energy was still in its infancy, and the question of loss of power in transmission ■was an extremely important factor in. the problem- To-day, however, the transmission; of energy can. toe effected over a> radius of from 200 to 300 miles from the source at & high commercial profit,.

and this means that there is practically no source of energy in the Dominion that could not be drawn upon to supply the needs of all out larger centres of population. So far as Auckland is concerned, the immense volume of power stored up for us at various points along the course of the Waikato could certainly ibe utilised to do all our industrial work and run our trains and trams as well. It is all a question of finance, and there is not -much doubt that as soon as the demand justifies the supply of electric energy on a large scale, the project will be taken in hand. But the engineers -who have examined into our resources anticipate a great deal more than the application of electrical energy to our own immediate needs. As Mr. Hancock points out in bis report, works of this kind bring into existence trades and industrial enterprises that would have been I impracticable before; and this is what Xciv Zealand will discover. "With this cheap power available,"' i says Mr Hancock, "wonders can be accomplished for the colony. Industries spring up in a locality where there is an abundance of cheap power, and judging from conditions- in the colony this ■will be true of any development you may put in. Every city, town and .hamlet can be furnished not only -with power j and light, -but -with heat also. Indus- ! tries that thrive best in small places will be encouraged, the population will be better distributed, and many of the evils of crowded cities avoided." But this will ibe only the beginning of our industrial development. "The manufacturing of all Australasia and a great portion of the Orient could be done here better and cheaper than anywhere else. Being so near these markets, with this i unlimited power, and having a climate | not surpassed, and hardly equalled, anywhere, and suited to a degree to manufacturing purposes, the possibilities of the colony are almost beyond the bounds of fancy. Your advantages are numerous," concludes Mr Hancock, "-we might say unequalled. You have splendid harbours, which means easy access by sea. You have a superabundance of reliable and cheap power. You have already a great deal of wise legislation on other subjects; bring to the question of the advancement of the colony and its growth as a manufacturing centre this same energy and thought, and great iesults will not be lacking." Surely, with such limitless possibilities lying open before us, it is time that we made a systematic effort, to take advantage of them. If the Premier's proposals really lead to the inauguration of such a system as Mr Hancock has described, this alone 'Will be sufficient to render the coming session a memorable epoch in the Dominion's history.