WATER POWER

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 40, 16 August 1917, Page 8

WATER POWER

HYDRO-ELECTRIC SCHEME

VIGOROUS PROSECUTION URGED

DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS.

GOVERNMENT'S DIFFICULTIES.

A "speeding-up" policy in regard to the prosecution of the hydro-electric scheme for the Wellington district was urged by a large deputation representing the various towns, and local bodies, which waited on the Prime Minister (Right Hon. W. F. Massey), Sir Joseph Ward (Minister of Finance), and the Hon. W. Fraser (Minister of Public Works), this afternoon.

The first speaker was Mr. Hodder, chairman of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce, who stated that the deputation desired to thank the Government for the comprehensive scheme brought down by Mr. Parry. The Chambers of Commerce, in the main, approved of it, and what the deputation wanted to know was whether the Government approved of it. After the present war there would be a commercial war, and the proposed scheme would be in the direction of assisting manufacturers by developing cheap power. It was a pity that such power as was available should go to waste. The Lake Coleridge scheme had been a great success, and the scheme in the North Island should be gone on with as soon as possible.

SUCCESS OF LAKE COLERIDGE

SCHEME,

Mr. J. P. Luke (Mayor of Wellington), on behalf of the Wellington City Council, endorsed what Mr. Hodder had said about the' Lake Coleridge scheme, remarking that he had paid a visit to the locality a short while ago. The deputation was there to urge upon the Government the desirability of bringing into operation as soon as possible the hydroelectric scheme for this part of the North Island. He mentioned different industries that would be conserved if hydroelectric facilities were brought into operation. The deputation was not there to embarrass the Government while the war was on, but to ask that the scheme should be carried into effect as soon as possible. Mr. Manton (Wellington Chamber of Commerce) stated that with the water power New Zealand had ih was wrong not to develop it, even though it was a matter of finance.

"NATIONAL EFFICIENCY."

"It is practically a question of national efficiency," said Mr. T. B. Williams, president of the Wanganui Chamber of Commerce, "and we feel justified in asking you to carry out the work." He also urged that the work should be gone on with, as' it was a post-war measure. Cheap power and cheap lighting were essentials if we were to go on and prosper after the war. Any little embarrassment the Government might have to meet at the present time would ha amply compensated in the future. Mr. J. A. Nash (Mayor of Palmerston North) said that if Wellington was to receive the power first the people of the West Coast should also be assured that they were going to receive it. If the delegates were told by the Minister of Public Works that it was intended to proceed with the headworks, then they would go away feeling that their visit had not been in vain.

In the course of further representations in regard to the scheme, Mr. C. M. Luke ; (President of the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce) pointed out that the prices of coals and fuel generally had greatly increased, and would probably not come down again. The deputation • was aware that the matter was one of finance, and that it might not bo possible to get the necessary machinery, but it thought that a great deSl could be done as far as the headworks were concerned. MINISTERS IN REPLY Beplying, the Hon. M. Fraser stated that he was not surprised at the interest that had been evoked by Mr. Parry's report in the districts represented by the deputation. The Lake Coleridge scheme had been a great success, and there was no reason why the same success should not attend the present scheme. Mr. Parry's report, however, was only an interim and not a final one. The headworks were most important, because if there was anything wrong with them, 'the whole soheme would fail. He must obtain a full report^ from the engineers and other heads of his Department, to confirm what Mr. Parry l had said about the scheme, but he had very little doubit that the scheme, as suggested, would be adopted. The deputation would agree 'with him, however, when he said that the Government could not say definitely that the whole scheme wonld be adopted. The position was that £24,00(3,000 had to be raised in the Dominion, and was there a^hope of any other work being gone on with at present? As- to the machinery, it was impossible to obtain it. The question of the headworks meant something more than money—it meant labour, and where was the labour going to be obtained? Although works were authorised last year by Parliament, he could not spend half the money, because he could not get the labour. There wae no doubt, however, that after the scheme had been thoroughly reported on I by the engineer he would be prepared I to see what could be done in regard to the headworks, tunnelling, and preliminary works. He would have everything ready, so that when the boys came back, and there was' plenty of labour and money available, he would push on the work as far as possible. (Hear, hear.) Another difficulty was that his engineering staff wae depleted—more than half of its members had gone to the war. Sir Joseph Ward also sympathetically repUe'd to the deputation's views, and said he believed that they would all live long enough to see the railways, tramways, factories, and other requirements supplied by the water forces that were going to waste in the Dominion. " And nroreover," said Sir Joseph, '" 1 believe it will be possible to do it." (Hear, hear.) He emphasised the necessity of first raising the war loan of £24,000,000 before anything in the way of big schemes was attempted.

The Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey) said that New Zealand was particularly well off in water power, and there was no part of the Dominion that could not be reached. , The war must come first, but when it came to an end it would be the duty of the Government to take this and many other schemes in hand. The Government understood the importance of the proposals, and lie could assure the deputation that they would not be neglected when the opportunity arose.

Mr. Buick, in thanking the Ministers, said that he was quite sure that the members of the deputation would go home feeling quite satisfied with the sympathetic hearing they had received.