THE MAYOR IN CHRISTCHURCH

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3043, 2 April 1917, Page 6

THE MAYOR IN CHRISTCHURCH

VISIT TO LAKE COLERIDGE The Mayor of Wellington (Mr. J. P. Luke) .returned; from the south yester- -, • day, after paying a visit to Christ-' church foiN the purpose of' inspecting 'the hydro-electric : installation there. ; Mr. Luko went -south last week, accompanied- by the City Engineer _ .W.,'H. Morton), and be was able to . make, a thorough examination of what tho : Gpvernment aud the Christohurch Municipality have done in connection with the' Lake Coleridge power scheme. He visited, the head works at Lake Coleridge, saw. the transmission lines .! .. and the distributing centres, and watched the power in actual use. / Spoakmg to a Dominion reporter last \■■ evening,', Mr. Luke said'; that be had ' been very pleased with his visit, and felt that he had returned to Wellington with a great deal of information that ~ would be of value to. him as Mayer of .Wellington. Naturally he. was, less qualified to discuis the technical; aspects.of the Lake Coleridge installation than : the City Engineer, who. had ac- ; , ,companied him on liis visit . to "the * Jiead works. But ho bad;been\able to learn, as a layman, that the power scheme was a thorough success, and .that Christchutch was benefiting very : ~ fireatly • from tlio abundant supply of relatively, cheap power that had been placed within its reach by the Government. The Lake Coleridge scheme represented the first attempt of the Gov- .. - ernment io "harness" a portion of New Zealand's almost unlimited water power for the benefit of the people, and it, undoubtedly was of very great interest from the point- of view of other ■centres, where the' need for additional ® u^?P% 3 °f electrical-power were being' - - -. Mr. Luko was present at. the opening- of a new department of the Ad- , - ■ dington sub-station on Thursday night, and he" mentioned then, that his visit , , to Lake Coleridge had made him .more •than ever convinced that it was time the Government harnessed many 0 f the lakes and rivers in New Zealand. Enor- ; . mous quantities,. of power were run- . . jiing to., waste atj a dozen places at the present time. The Lake Coleridge 1 installation-.showed that the . power could Jie made-available for public purposes. , ItS&juld be used for tho cultivation of the national industries, for the development, of the mineral wealth of Now Zealand, and l for the economising of the Dominion's store of coal and oil. "Mr. Morton and myself had the 0p.7 , portunity of inspecting the whole un- . dertaking, and-made ourselves familiar with, the details of the bead works and power house," saidi Sir. Luke lasteven- : wgv ."The "-visit ;was most interesting. ■ . . Wo visited the substation at Addington, the principal distributing place for ~ tiie city,- where tfie power is received at ,; high tension direct from the lake works along the transmission .lines, and is reduced to.theform required for the city ■ ; services. There are other sub-stations which serve the aieeds of districts that v are not under the control of the Christohurch Municipality. The whole Christ: ;. V church district is being served, and there are evidences of linking up in all . directions." ; . j " . Mr. Luke added that during, his visit he had Received much kindness . and courtesy from the Mayor.of Christ-' . church, the chairman' of the Tramwaj Board, and l other public.men, who had assisted him ■to examine, the general - services of tlio southern ejty. Oiie of : . bis visits had been to the drainage . works and sewage farm., and he had been most interested to see for himself the way Christohurch had dtealt with a ..very difficult problem. The configuration of Wellington made it possible for thocit.v to send its sewage out to 6ea. ' Chrisitchurch had to devise . another .r method,' and it had succeeded in' disposing of its sewage not only effectively, but in such a way as to produce a certain amount of revenue. -Ho felt , that bis visit as a whole had been worth while, and that the exchange of' ideas that had taken place might be of benefit to both cities.