The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1910. OUR WATER POWER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 243, 13 October 1910, Page 4

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

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1910. OUR WATER POWER.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong t)iat needs resistance. For the future in the distance. And the good that tee can do.

The second reading of the Aids to Water Power Works Bill enabled the

Premier to lay before the House a large amount of interesting information about our water supply, and the proposals to generate electricity from it for industrial purposes. As we have already explained, Government proposes bo begin this year with a preliminary vote of £500,000, but this will go but a very little way toward •completing the schemes already suggested •by the Premier. An attempt has been made to distribute the funds that a-re <to be allocated for this purpose more or less evenly over the whole Dominion. The districts of Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, Southland and Westland are each to have a separate waterpower system, and the gross outlay on all these schemes is set down approximately at £2,000,000. The immediate object will be in each case to supply electrical energy for the use of the larger centres of population. But the outlying towns and the country districts are also to be served; and in regard to North Auckland an attempt is to be made, independently of the Kaituna project, to develop the energy latent in 'the Wairua Falls. The Premier expects that all this can be done within the next four years, and if hia hopes are confirmed 'by the result the people of New Zealand will have every reason to be gratified. N-aturally our readers will be chiefly interested in the scheme that concerns Uβ locally; and a few particulars of the Kaituna source of supply may be quoted from the report submitted by Mr. P. 8. Hay to Government six years ago. The Kaituna drains the Rotorua and Rotoiti Lakes, and in Mr. Hay's opinion it affords a better source of electrical energy for the purposes of Auckland City and the adjacent districts than could be obtained from the Waikato. A power station at a suitable point on the Kaituna would be about 30 miles nearer Auckland 'than either the Huka Falls or the Araiiatia Rapids, and the water could be utilised without destroying any valuable scenic asset. A good line of transmission could be obtained by way of Katikati, Waihi, Paeroa, and Mercer to Auckland, a distance of about 120 miles, over which the power could •be carried with but small loss. The mining district through which the line would pass would certainly make use of the power, and there is every reason to j believe that, as the Premier has said, it could be delivered and sold to the public here at less cost than any other form of motive energy. Mr. Hay's estimate gives £880,000 as the total cost of generating 31,600 horse power, which would mean about 19,000 horse power delivered at Auckland. The Premier's scheme allows ior only 10,000 horse power, and the cost of the installation and generating works would be correspondingly reduced. As to the value of 3ueh a system, when once installed, there is little room for doubt. Some of the Premier's critics have suggested that New Zealand is not yet peopled densely enough to support such expensive undertakings, and that estimates of revenue based upon American or European experience ; are quite misleading. But even if but a very small portion of the power thus generated were needed for lighting or ordinary industrial purposes, it is possible to develop here by the help of water-power great industries that with-

out some cheap source oi energy could never come into existence. Mr. Hay in his report refers to the success of the hydraulic electro-chemical factories in Switzerland and France, where carbide of calcium, aluminium, sodium, and carborundum are" produced. The manufacture of wood pulp and paper is another! industry that only needs cheap power to; become immensely profitable. But possibly I the great outlet for electrical develop- i ment here may prove to be the manufac- i ' tuxe oi nitrates and chemical manures. ! This is already being done on a large j scale in Norway and America., through \ the help of electricity generated from ' water power, and tne possibilities of the | industry are simply incalculable. And, j apart from everything else, the use of ! electricity for traction purposes on our j railroads is a matter that must neces- ' : sarily engage the attention of our ad- ! ■ ministration in the near future. Accord- ! , ing to the most recent English and American authorities, electricity is at least 25 per cent cheaper than ftteain ou : railways. The eoui consumption par 1000 ton-miles i≤ given at 5/ for steam < and 3/9 for electric working; and if the electricity is generated iroru water power the saving is even greater. If our water , power did nothing for us but run our trains cheaply it would be well worth the outlay that the Premier proposes, and the successful development of the ; scheme on this side alone would amply justify the whole undertaking. j