SOUTH ISLAND POWER

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26125, 30 May 1950, Page 6

SOUTH ISLAND POWER

MINISTER REVIEWS PROJECTS MORE SKILLED LABOUR WANTED (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. May 29. Better progress would be made on the Cobb river power project in the Nelson province if sufficient skilled labour could be obtained, said the Minister in charge of the State Hydroelectric Department (Mr W. S. Goosman) this afternoon, in a review of South Island power projects. The power station on the Cobb river, said the Minister, was having its capacity more than doubled. The new intake to the penstock tunnel had been completed and work was in hand on the construction of the concrete culverts for the diversion of the river during the building of the earth dam, which is being erected to provide storage.

At Braeburn, also in the Nelson district, investigations were being made in connexion with the proposed tunnel from Lake Rotorua through to the Mangles river. The object of this was to divert the water to a powerhouse on the Mangles river, a new source of supply for the Nelson-West Coast district, said Mr Goosman. At Lake Tekapo, he said, the site of the proposed dam had been investigated and plans were now being prepared. At Waitaki, investigations covering the proposed extensions to the Waitaki power station had been completed and the construction work was about to commence. The excavation of the diversion channel to carry the river round the site of the main dam during the construction was proceeding well, said the Minister.