POWER SUPPLY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19258, 13 March 1928, Page 4

POWER SUPPLY.

THE WAITAKI SCHEME. MINISTER VISITS SITE. tSPSCUL TO THI PSKS3.) TIMARU, March 12. "I shall not commit myself," said tbo Minister for Public Works (Mr K. S. Williams) when asked if there would be. time to provicte for the commencement of the Government hydro-electric works at Kurow, on the estimates. The question was asked by a member of a deputation from the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce and the South Canterbury, Waitaki, and Ashburton Electric Power Boards, which waited on the Minister at Kurow to-day to ask that the work be speeded up. The Minister said be quite recognised the importance of an early completion of the work, and he hoped the people would appreciate the- work benng carried out. The Government had! been trying to find the best scheme. It was expected to have a definite report on the possibilities for the foundation of a dam across the Waitaki river within a few days. There was a large sum of monev'involved, and it was important to know if there was a sound bottom to the river. Speaking on the two prospective sites for the dam, four and eight miles above Kurow respectively, the engineer to the Dopartment (Mr Kissel] said that tests were being carried out, and in about six weeks' time it should be blown which was the better site. After the deputation had visited the prospective sites, Mr J. Bitchener, M.P., thanked the Minister for his visit. The Waitaki power station, he said, would form an important link in the hydro-electric power chain in the South Island. It would be a connecting link between the two present stations, and he knew that the Minister would push the work, ahead to the best of his ability. He hoped that the Minister would soon visit Kurow again to turn the first sod and to switch on the current. On the way to the power station works a stop was- made to point out the bad state of the Te Awa road. It was stated that a bridge over the proposed dam would be required to do away with the bad portion of the road. The road was an important one, feeding 100,000 acres, 80,000 of which was Crown land. The Minister said that the requirements would be noted.