The Press FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 1956. Benmore Hydro Project

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28001, 22 June 1956, Page 10

The Press FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 1956. Benmore Hydro Project

The announcement by the Minister of Works (Mr Goosman) that a start will be made on the Benmore hydro project next year will hardly satisfy his critics in Otago. A start next year will not keep in Otago the men soon to finish work on the Roxburgh project; nor will it satisfy the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce that Benmore will be finished in 1962-63. which is when the chamber believes all the surplus supply from Roxburgh will have been overtaken by demand. The estimate of the State Hydro-electric Department is that, with the installation of the second four generators at Roxburgh in 1960, this station will meet all the South Island requirements till 1965-66. Has Mr Goosman rejected the department’s estimate, which is based on the estimates of South Island supply authorities and provides for an increase of well over 100 per cent, in demand in the next nine years? The Dunedin Chamber of Commerce has accused Mr Goosman of inconsistency; but the chamber’s real complaint seems to be that he has not been sufficiently explicit. His latest statement suggests that he believes the practicability of the Cook Strait power cable can be reasonably assumed, in which case the department would like to start Benmore immediately. , It cannot do so because the site has yet to be chosen, after which will come all the design and planning work. Labour is urgently needed for North Island power stations and it would be wasteful to keep men waiting round till a start can be made at Benmore. The decision to

start next year appears to be a compromise. If the cable is practicable, the job could be speeded up by bringing men back from the North Island. If not, the work can proceed more slowly until the effect of an unrestricted demand in the i South Island can be judged and the department knows whether its estimate is better than that of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce. Whether such a compromise would be an economic way of going about the business depends on some intricate calculations that only the department can make, taking into account the need for a station additional to Benmore if the cable is possible.

What Mr Goosman’s statement should not mean is a surrender to pressure from Otago. If Benmore is not going to be needed until 1966 it should not be started before 1959, the date suggested by the general manager of the department (Mr A. E. Davenport) in the event that power cannot be transferred to the North Island. Benmore will eventually have to be built; but, at a time when New Zealand’s resources are under strain, the country cannot afford to tie up manpower and materials two years in advance of the need. Financially, this would show a loss of several millions of pounds. Mr Goosman has said either too much or too little. He should explain why Benmore is to be started next year, when that will already be too late to hold the construction force in the South Island.