The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1910. ELECTRICAL RAILWAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 193, 16 August 1910, Page 4

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

TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1910. ELECTRICAL RAILWAYS.

For the. cause that Zocfii assistance. For tie wrong that needs re&iataoo*\ For-the future in the distance. And the good that toe ccc <2a-

The Minister for-Public- Works introduced to the notice of the House a new topic of great public'- interest and mv; portance last .week, when he referred to the possibility of running our railways by means of electricity. The question of utilising our splendid supply of water-power to generate electricity, both for lighting and for industrial purposes, has already attracted a great' deal of public, attention, and, we havci no doubt that it will receive the careful preliminary investigation that_ it' demands'before the country involves itself in very heavy expense for this purpose. We believe that a great deal can i>e done in this way here with great advantage to the whole country; but it must not be forgotten that such undertakings imply a large initial outlay, and that they require a. considerable, demand for the power produced to make them a genuine commercial success. But even if the optimistic predictions of Mr; Hancock and other experts as to the immense industrial developments that electrical _ energy may produce here must wait a. long time for fulfilment, 'there" are other prirposee to which electricity can be devoted which would mean, a great and immediate gain for the whole- country; and of these, one of the most important is its application to" the prttblems of railway traction.

. -For. it -must now be- recognised that, though the electrification of railways is still in. its infancy, the success of the experiments already. made in England, Germany and America has demonstrated beyond' doubt -that: tne new system is commerckilly sound and profitable. It is sis years since the famous experiments !on the Marienfelde-Zossen line, on' the Outskirts of Berlin, showed that an electric train could • develop extremely high speeds with perfect safety. Tliis 15-mile trip was covered in eight minutes, at the rate of. over IEO miles an hour, and though the cost -of overhead wires and the elaborate, cars make the system I expensive, '. the germ of future developments was there., Within the past five years, several of the great American railway companies—the Pennsylvania and New York Central, the Union Pacific, and many applied electricity to most of -their suburban traffic, With entire satisfaction to themselves and the travelling public. The increase in speed, cleanliness and comfort is most marked, and sWilar results have been obtained in England. The. North Eastern Railway Company handles the.suburban traffic at Newcastle electrically, and the use of electricity on the metropolitan lines, and on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, has 'been so successful that the extension of the system is now only a question of money and time.

We presume that our readers are aware that the Victorian Government de-

cidei some two years ago to replace steam by electricity on the State lines, and to make, a beginning "with. Melbourne.v For reasons <wliieh we need not diseoss just now, tne authori-

ties have preferred tlie comparatively old-fashioned, "direct current"" systeinj with it's - dangerous "third rail," to "the': newer "single-phase" system, with' over-; head wire. However, the chief .interest of the "experiment to us lies in,the possibility of making it a commercial success, and here we may say that the evidence compiled by the Victorian Government is all" in its favour. Last year the engineer in control of the LivwpoolSouthport electric line laid the results of five years' experience befol c the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and the "Age," after comparing the conditions under which his results' were obtained with those that obtain in Victoria, concludes that .if the suburban lines are electrified the peaple of Melbourne will save at ieaet 50 per cent of the time they now spend in railway travelling, and that they will gain immensely in comfort and safety," while British and American experience proves clearly t'haf such lines can be made to pay their-way. Such facts provide an exceedingly useful object-lesson to New Zealand, and if it. be true, as Mr. P. S. Hay's report suggests, that we can generate electricity from water-power here at about one-third of the cost required in European countries, there should be no doubt about the ultimate triumph of electricity over steam on our railways.