The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News,Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1921. WATER POWER AND ITS COST

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 101, 29 April 1921, Page 4

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

FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1921. WATER POWER AND ITS COST

For the cause that lacks assistance, . For the wrong that need* reitMtanoe. l f or the future in the dittcnoe, A.nd the good that we oan dt>.

The report of the special committee of pxperts appointed by the Government to report on the suitability of tfle Arapuni jorge us a site for hydro-electric power will cause disappointment to those who have been looking forward to the early levelopment of this great source of power. It involves further delay, and two and a-half years have already passed rinee Mr. Parry drew up his scheme of works for the North Island, of ir'hich this is one. We wish to make it clear, however, that we are not criticising the ■. iovernment for taking all these precautions against making an engineering mistake at Arapuni. In making the ?.\p!oration of tin- ground and seeking expert advice on the results the Government has acted quite rightly, and the care it has shown is an example to local bodies undertaking large works. The committee condemns as unsafe, in the iight of the data furnished by the explorations, the type of dam proposed by the Department. It recommends a dam of a different type, but suggests that before it is decided to build Buch a dam at Arapuni tne Aratiatia site should be fully investigated and comparative estimates made of the cost of developing the two places. Unfortunately the committee, does not state what the. cost of a gravity dam at Arapuni would be as compared with that of the arched dam proposed by the l!tepartment. and we have only an iude-finito statement by the Minister to go upon. -Mr. Coates says the committee's dam "would cost a tremendous amount of money," which does not carry us very far. Finance is the key to the whole problem. It may 'be disappointing to have to abandon Arapuni after what has been done there, but if it is cheaper to go to Aratiatia the Department should certainly go there. That would mean a longer transmission line, but the cost ol this and of the greater distance from the railway can be included in the calculaj tions of the experts. Mr. Parry regarded Aratiatia as an alternative to Arapuni and reported favourably upon it. Ii water-power electricity is going to dc J what is claimed for it, it must be cheap i It must be at least as cheap as <po*re:

i from other sources. The only advantage of a systom of production that wonlii i supply current that was dearer than electricity generated by coal would be that it might make the eornmuniu los; dependent on that file.!. This is from tnr ' national point of view, l-'rom the Anck I land point of view we have to pee that ; the capital cost is not so hij;li tlui-t th. ; charge for current will be eoiisnlerabh taoro than it U in the South. Such a difference drive industries froir Auckland to Canterbury and elsewhere The capital cost oi hydro-electric scheme? is therefore of prime importance.. It no use talking in iiundreds of thousand.of horse-power and millions of exiK-ndi ture if the result is a dear unit to tinConsumer. At the present time thi Auckland City Council dues a thrivinp and increasing business In electricity generated by steam, and if water [tower current is going f< compete against steam careful rejrard must be taken for the capital coat. Mr Tarry mode calculations of the cos' nf the North I-|.ind schemes. The total was more than seven millions, including transmission, and the cost per horse-power more than Jl-:."). The generating station at Arapisni wus to cost over a million. To meet the ■ total annual expendituru on a!! the ■ schemes an average return of Cj.'l per ■ ' !iorse-po\ver per uziuum of maximum j load would be required. Seven millions ji- a great deal at money, c*pe.-iall\ in ! times like, these. It is obvious Unit it , the ea.pit.iil cost of a generating ligation i were increased !>y. say, ,",0 per cent u,\inu' U> unfonswc'n ciroums.j.nccs. :h • elTc ton : the prkv to the consumer would bo i-on- ' sideralile. Tin* Co; erimscm is therefore porta'Uy justifre.l hi makinp every possible investigation into the facts of . Arapuni and Aratiatia. Auckland lias a ri.Lrht to ask tha-t unavoidable delay be made as short as possible, but the ; I'ommon-scnsf view is that it is better !to wait than to rush into a scheme that may involve the country in an unpayable ■ enterprise.