HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 45, 21 February 1917, Page 8

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

PROSPECT FOR WELLINGTON

AND DISTRICT

MONEY SHORT, MACHINERY NOT

AVAILABLE,

""EXPERT'S* REPORT,

For nearly, an ..hour this morning the Minister of Public- Works (Hod. W. Fraser) conferred with representatives of •the Wellington City Council and adjacent ."local' bodies on the subject of the possibility of "ihe'CJo'vermh'enfcinaugurating a hydro-electric scheme- which would obviateHhe necessity of their entering upon a series of minor schemes for the generation of electric power for local purposes. The deputation put before tSw Minister the pressing needs of Wellington ill particular and the adjacent local bodies in general for a larger volume of electric power, .as already emphasised, and,';.in regard to, Wellington particularly; it was urged that the city should know what the Government proposed 1 to do in .the direction of developing the watef-power, before committing itself to further' expenditure on steam-production. These points wero emphasised by tha Mayor of Wellington (Mr. J. P. Luke), Mr. H. Baldwin (Mayor of-Lower Hutt), Mr. J. W. M'Ewan (Mayor of Petone), Mr. I W. IL" .Morton (City Engineer), Mr. IK. A. 'Wright; M.P., and Mr. W. H. Field, M.P.

Ini replying,-the. Minister said he could noV consider the Wellington scheme without .fonsidering .schemes for the whole of the North Island. Mr. Parry, Chief Electrical Engineer, had prepared an interim report on the subject, which he would hand to the press. The first ques-tion-to bo considered was the main source of the supply of power. One of. thp first things Mr. Parry had thought of was to get' one central station, one central source •of power, for the whole of the North Island. It might have beetf possible to do so, but there were .difficulties in the way, > the chief being that the lines of transmission would have Lad to go over, vpry long distances, perhaps hundreds of miles, and there must' be a road alongside.'- ,- ■ ' "' •..: " -IhREE-ISOTJR'CES.

It had 'been decided /to*. haveY three sources, so far as they could decide anything... at present. The source for Wellington' would be the Mangahao River. Thejjtota^costof supplying Wellington, Palmerston, Wanganui, and , district •would be £J ,000,000. That would include the transmission plant.. In any case, however,; Parliament woiild have to pass the schenio lief pro: anything' could be done. He recognised; that Wellington would be the biggest"''consumer,' and:therefore producerfthe' largest return in the quickest time;; But'it had to be remembered that while "the' war was on machinery could not be imported. The deputation would like.to 1 know how much of the £1,000,000 / would be required to bring the water down''from the power house and distribute!;i't along the line between Shannon and :;Wellington. It; was intended to create-20,000 horse-power. He'had talked the matter over with Mr. Parry,.' and ,he considered' that. ; ,it was not'necessary tp create; the whole 1 of-it-right away. Certain* works would have to be done to the full,limit, but .other works could be curtail*};; ■■' :-:■:*:"■■"■ \;

.COST OF WELLINGTON SUPPLY. He,had asked for an estimate of what it would cost to supply Wellington with about 10,000 horse-power, and he found that" I'll coi:ld be done for about £448,000. However, until the war was over they couls;not get the machinery; even if they ,]iad;-fjve millions to"spend, it could not be imported. " • -TK4 Mayor (Mr. J. P.-Luke): What would he (he price per unit?-,- ■'■■■■■ Tiie Minister said the Department had not!considered any scheme which would cosf^inore than £20 per horse-power, capital ,cost The Government was at present producing power at a lower cost by pile-half than it could be produced by any* other system. If Parliament agreed therf.was nothing to prevent certain preliminary works being i carried out, but in jinyfpase he did not think they could get powe* to Wellington until two years and n-haji or three years after the works had beetiijcommence'd.