A BIG SCHEME.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1912, Page 2

A BIG SCHEME.

ELECTRIC POWER FOR MELBOURNE. COMPANY WITH A CAPITAL BETWEEN £2,000,000 AND £3,000,000. What promises to be ono of the greatest individual enterprises Australia has known is now being matured in London between the representatives of the Victorian Minerals Development Company and some large English electrical interests (writes the London correspondent of the Sydney Telegraph). The intention is to utilise the huge brown coal deposits in tho Morwell district of Victoria for the generation of electric power and light for Melbourne. It is proposed to proceed upon t a scale of sucta magnitude that power will be available for the whole of Melbourne's suburban railways and tramway traffic, for tho electric lighting of the city, and manufacturing and other purposes. The belief is that electricity can be generated at Morwell' at a lower cost than would be- obtained by any other possible means. The production will involve tho fexpenditure of a huge amount of money. Between two and tureo millions «torlmg will be laid out, and the necessary works promise employment for a few years to a large army of workpeople. It is intended to erect the huge generating plant on the seat of the Coal deposit. Boring shows that thore Is at Morwell a ventabl© mountain of solid brown coal lying beneath a considerable overburden. Water will be brought from a creek some dktancfe away, and this overburden will be removed by the exertion of a high degree of hydraulic force. The coal will then be quarried out and run m trucks to the furnace, into which it will be automatically dumped by tho removal of the trucks' bottoms. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the enterprise, however, is the fcransmiseion of the electrical current over the eighty miles which lie between Mor-well-and Melbourne. This will be done on two lines which it ie proposed to erect along either side of the existing railway. Theae great transmission lines will be borne on towers 70ft in height, standing 250 yds apart, and tho lines will sag to within 20ft of th« ground between the towers. Each section will work upon insulating swivels, so as to minimise extreme weather and other adverse effects. Special conductors will be erected against the danger of damage by lightning. The lines will be patrolled day and night. by special guards, and a very complete system of telephones will be- arranged for the reporting of possible mishap The turbine generators at Morwell will be the largest in Australia, and will have ft power of 18,000 kilowatts. The I electricity will be carried to a central station at "the suburb of Oakleigh, and transmitted thence to sub-stations over the. whole of the Melbourne district. It is claimed that the carrying 'out of the proposal will give a decided impetus to Melbourne's manufacturing industries, and it is obvious that it will seriously | curtail that city's present consumption o*f Newcastle and other coal. Those in charge of the matter at the present tiino_ contemplate no difllculty about the -raising of the necessary capital; They believe the money will be readily subscribed both in Australia and on this side. At first sight the intention to carry power over a distance of 80 j,mileß appears to be bold and financially hazardous. There ave> however, many instances in which electricity is economically conveyed over far greater distances. In America, where streams are being so generally harncesed to generate electric power, very long journeys ore .made by the transmission lines. After you leave Denver, on the way down to Salt Like City, anc^ travel atl 'lughtf.ln'tne tram and into part of next' day; on the way across the Rockies, , there is pointed out to you along the •course' of a torrential mountain stream the headworke of tho electrical company which is supplying the people of Denver with their light and manufacturing energy. The distance covered by these lines is, I believe, about 200 miles. The only chance this Victorian enter prise has of success lies in the 1 cheapness with which it is estimated the brown coal can be torn from the mountain side , ahd put into the furnaces. The Moi'Well coal is > low in burning power as compared with , the black coal of Newcastle or elsewhere. Exhaustive analyses, however, have been made. Considerable shipments have been sent to Germany, and it is established beyond doubt thait Wie Gippsland deposit excels in heat-producing qualities the best brown coal of Germany, and the latter has been found a very profitable source of electrical energy.