ADVANCE ARAPUNI.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 34, 10 February 1922, Page 6

ADVANCE ARAPUNI.

AUCKLAND'S MAYOR ACTS. TO CKT TIIK SCHKMK (HUM;. WORKS MINISTER INTERESTED. The position of the supply of electricity in Anckliind a.s it will' be aiVeetcd I by the pending election of the Auckland j I'ower Hoard, and the liroposed hydro- | I electric supply from Arapuni, was placed] fully before the Auckland City Council | last night in a report by the Mayor | (Mr. .1. 11. iiiinson). ' The .■lection of members for the ' Power Hoard, stated Mr. Ounson, U to ' be held on February JB. -Mr. Crimson pointed out that, by , clause "hi of the Act. power was given to authorise any of the constituent local | authorities to carry out the electrical ! reticulation uf the. district, and sell and deal with the electricity obtained by i it from the Hoard. lie recommended i the Council to take no action with re-j jgard to that clause, as the Hoard was! designed to he an effective and unified j interest, and no advantage could be ■ anticipated by the Council doing part or ! the city reticulation. The existing | reticulation was sold, and must remain as the Boards property. A DEFINITE POSSIBILITY. Proceeding to the Arapuni proposal, , ! Mr. Giineon stated that the outstanding! J fact was that Arapuni could not be j i considered practicable so far as Auck- ' 'land was concerned unless tlie Auck-' iand metropolitan area could lake a large "load." The materialisation of the Power Hoard bad opened the pnnsi- i bility of the (iovernment doing some-: thing to make the scheme practicable. Keecnt statements in Parliament up- : pcared to have been misunderstood, ait was clear fr.jin negotiations carried on i since August with the City Council.! and from information now I•> hand, that Araninii. -uhject t.i agreement w itJi th ; Aueklnnd Power Hoard, wan a definite ( possibility for an early conuiuMicenii'nt. i The question, lie continued, now re- | solves itself into the following: —As to \ the load which iviil be required five | years hen.ee for the area of the Auckland j Power Hoard, and as t<, what termoran be entered into with the tiovernment : for an immediate start with Arapuni \ under contra.-l for Auckland to take the I whole of tlie Hoard's requirements from I Arapuni. Also as to whether the price to be paid to the Government, plus the cost of changing over and running costs and capital expense of the Auckland Station as a stand-by plant would be I justified. The answer to this, from a \ practical point of view, together with ] what the Government will do from a national standpoint, is the answer a≤ in Arapuni. M 1 -VISTERIA L AS<I"KA N'C IC. On August IC, IP-21. the Minister of I Public Works was written to and j iaske.l to definitely have an investigation ! made into the following points by his j engineers: -- (a) Whether a commcnccuvnl with ' and equipment of the Arapuni works j tu-e justified in view of the , financial vc- \ turns which may reasonably lip anticipated with the benefit of an adequate ; supply of electrical energy for the province, n>) Whether the Auckland City Council or Cue Auckland Power Hoard, as the case may be. would be able to do better or be cm the same basis or umlcr higher charges in the matter "f cost than generating by steam, as at present. In response to this Messrs. I'urkert, Kissel and Cull (engineers of tne I'i.iili.Works Department I came to Auckland and conducted an extensive investigation into the <ity station, etc., the material from which has been the subject "of eon- j sideration. I have now received I by I the courtesy of the Minister of Public "Works; a uopy of a report by Mr. ' Kissel, dated .January 10, 102:2, and after carefully perusing the same, sent ii telegram to Mr. Coates asking for a I conference in Wellington, i.. which the : Minister agreed. ; Later, continued the Mayor, be had | received a wire from the Minister asking him to attend at Wellington on the week-end ami confer with the Minister ! and Mr. U'yllic. The tele-ram stated ! that there were certain facts he wished i to make public-. TROPUSITCOX IN A NITSHEJjU "Owing to the city electrical engineer's j absence in Wellington." continued Mr. I iriineon, "1 have not had an opportunity i of going into the position thoroughly i with Mr. Wyllie. but the report appears j to mc to establish several leading points, j the chief of which may be said to be: \ "(a) The proposed transmission line from Hora llora will only be Rone on i with by the Government under a con- i tract for the Hora llora current with | the Auckland Power Hoard. Thprp would be" about 4.(100.000 units per annum of this available for a night 'load.' With the enlargement of llora Hora. thai night 'lead' could be increased to (i.000,000 units per annijll. Auckland does not need such a, supply. In addition, with llora Hora extended, there would 'be some l.'>oo K.W. available for a day 'load.' While the night 'load' is not wanted, and would be no u*n to the board, yet this day 'load' of b>oo K.W. may be, hence the' reference to Hora Tiora in the wire to Mr. Coates. "Ili) The Arapuni proposals are nowpracticable.if a satisfactory contract can i>c made between the Auckland Power Uoard and the Government. It appears to devolve upon the City Council, in view of the importance of this question, to take up negotiations with a view of passing the matter on to the Power ! Hoard. The efficient instalment jof the Arapuni scheme -n-oiiM be SifiQO K.W., the whole of which, with necpseary reservations in tb c board"s intercft I and having regard to the position of I other clients supplied from the same source, would need to be contracted for by the Auckland Power Board. If this can arranged (and it is impossible to say whether it can or not until it is j gone into in terms of mv wire to the Minister and his reply) there i s n o practical reason whatever why Arapt.ui should not be started immediately, and the whole business carried to completion as far as such instalment of the work, as mentioned above, is concerned with the greatest expedition. FIVE YfiABS AHEAD. "Tlie report definitely establishes that tlie steam plant at King's wharf is better situated for a standby plant than |Huntly. Having regard to this there is j nothing to gain by further consideration J of the lliuntly proposals, which have I been pone into most exhaustively. "This confirms the advico whine the city electrical engineer gave the council, having regard to the existing position. "With regard to the present and proposed extensions to the city station, it is clear that if these had not been gone on with the position would have been an impossible one both in regard to the lighting and power interests of the city, us it must be, even if started now, another five years before Axapuni cur-

rent would be available, and, it must be emphasised, Ara.puni ia.n only now Iμ l justilied by a. large "load. , Auckland may b<- able to give that 'load' now. I'here is also the question of what out- , let for Arapaini current can l>e found by | the Department in other territory. All i this will have to be considered.' , .Mr. Holdsivorth stated that he thought the Mayor had given the council a valuable lead ill his report, and be i moved that the Mayor be authorised to I meet the Minister on the matter. j In the discussion which followed some I councillors objected that. Auckland was I asked for guarantees which were not j required from local bodies in the South, i The. motion was carried with two I dissentients. PROTEST FROM NftAKUAWAHIA. ; At a, meeting of the Cham- , I ber of Commerce Cue president moved ' land it was agreed unanimously:—"That ihe chamber protest against the action jof Ihe Government in holding up the' Arapuni hydro-electric scheme as bein ; inimical to the progress of Auckland and I I I'aranaki provinces, and urge that Ara- | \ piini should be proceeded with on the' i same lines and simultaneously with the ' : Southern scheme-."' i '_ '.