A NATIONAL SCHEME

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 141, 14 June 1918, Page 11

A NATIONAL SCHEME

I HYDRO-ELECTRICAL I DEVELOPMENT

TO THB EDITOR.

Sir, —In your issue of the 3rd insfc. is an article by S. E. Jenlrinson in which appear some references to hydro-electri-cal power far from enoouraging. I know nothing whatever of the writer, but his remarks on the subject of hydroelectrical installation in this Dominion call for a reply. One would have thought by this time of day that even the women and children had became alive to the great importance to themselves ■ and the future of $ris country to realise that "the old order changeth, giving plaoe to. the new." That S. E. Jenlrinson—a man?—does not so realise, is to me something of a wonder! I happen to be one who has travelled extensively in America, Europe, and AustraEa, and know intimately the larger portion of this Dominion. The so-called coal-fields are known, and so too axe the lakes, as situated in the more elevated areas of the country. I have also vis- , ited North Auckland Peninsula, both east and west, and even South Otago is not unknown to me, but for someone to say that "If the money wasted on the Coleridge scheme had been utilised in developing North Auckland or South Otago," is to write what is little better than nonsense. Is, for instance, money wasted, that enables flour mills, tanneries and fellmongeries, dairies and butter factories, quarries and brickyards, hospitals and homes, to be supplied with light, heat, a-nd power at prices against which coal cannot compete, and which in a hundred ways benefits and elevates our civilization and intercourse? Imagine the economical use of coal against the economical use of electricity! Compare, for example two storehouses, one 2000 feet below the earth's'surface, the other 2000 feet above sea-level. ■. Let us suppose them to be of equal area, that below the surface being ■coal, that above the sea level being water, as for instance, Lake Waikaremoana, in the Wairoa. County, a little north of the 39 parallel. The lake is 23 square miles in extent. It is 2015 ft above the sea level. ■ It is 840 ft deep with water as pure as Nature can supply. It has an outflow that electrical engineers can fully appreciate. Now compare the cubical contents of a deposit of coal equal in extent to the waters in the lake named and enquire as to the relative value of each to this Dominion for domestic, manufacturing, scientific and economic pur- ! poses generally. We all know what aid i coal has been to the development of manufactures in the Motherland, but the mighty hydro-electrfbal establishments at Niagara in the United States and Canada have shown the world that the utilisation of water-power, where favourably situated, is the most, potent economic force yet provided for the development of light, heat, and power among communities. One has only to visit the Niagara hydroelectrical installations to realise the prophetic meaning of Thompson's words: "For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world, and all the wondor that, would be. Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales." We are but stepping into the world of wonders that will be unfolded by hydr'belectrical development in this country, and although coal will be utilised 1 in many ways it must give place to water-power wherever such power is available, because i by its use^electiical generation can be obtained under a national scheme at al- j most nominal cost compared with the bene- | fits conferred. The people of this | •country have become so accustomed | to the us© of coal for domestic pur- I posee that it is yet far from being realised. How cheaply every house could be supplied wtth light and heat by adopting a system such as is now available in Christehureh, and in houses and factories between Christchurch and Lake Coleridge. No country has finer store lakes than our own, and the North Island is especially favoured as to position and craa in the matter of unlimited supplies. Anyone interested should take a map of the North Island and locate the i places mentioned, for instance by Mr. j Parry, as among the most important sources of supply. Lakes Waikaremoana and Taupo, and the Mangahao stream, east of Shannon, have been selected for j special reports. The Huka Falls, Ai-atia-tia Rapids, and Awapuni or the Waikato could provide sufficient hydro-electrical power for the whole community of this land for matjv years, and so could Waikaremoana. litangahao could provido sufficient for the whole of the Wellington area for some years, but the question is not local or provincial. • It is a national question to be decided, for it is to the benefit of this country that every town, village, factory, and homestead be linked up with a generalised scheme that would provide light, heat, and power for an infinite variety of purposes, such as town and country require. The great aim of every citizen who wishes well for this country should be to sink all local jealousies and unite for a common purpose. Following the war a heavy, nay a very heavy, burden will be imposed on a mere million of citizens in the shape of interest. Up to the beginning of the war our borrowings for national purposes were for developmental work throughout the country, which materially assisted production, but money - expended on war is non-productivo' and the heavy interest that musi be honorably met following the close of the war can only be met out of production. But since the beginning of the war, production has not increased to any extent, and interest has much more than doubled, so that it follows that out of present pro- I duction more than double the pre-war taxation must be imposed. Under the trying conditions it would manifestly be j unjust to give special economic advantages to one portion of the community as j against! the whole. It is for this reason that the selection of centres for the production of electrical energy should be decided with aVview to the general j and not the particular, good. There is sufficient potential power available on the Waikato and .at Waikaremoana Lake to supply, if linked together, the whole of the North Island for every purpose that will add to the domestic, industrial, and commercial conveniences of the people. And the price of the power, what will it be? It is here that will be possible among the peopl^. such as will help them to meet increased taxation which is sure to follow as the 'outcolne of our rapidly-grow-ing debt. ' There is what Mr. Birks states in the Journal of Science, issued in your own city in January last, as to i the benefit of the Lake Coleridge scheme j to Christchurch : "The immediate effect of the intro- i duction of hydro-electric power in the city was a striking reduction in the council's retail am' wholesale charges for electricity. Tire average charge for light was reduced from 5d to 3d and for power from 2-^-d to Id, with wholesale rates down to j-d for ordinary day work and to l-6d for night work. In the two years since a regular supply has been obtained from Lake Coleridge the demand within the city has gone up, from 700 kilowatts to 2200 kilowatts and is still increasing rapidly. During the samo poriod the number oi errnsumers within tho city s>as gone up from. 1G25 to 3877, of whom 22 per cent, now pay Icsb than three shillings per month and 33 per cent, pay leas

than four, shillings per month on the average. Electricity in Christchurch is thus distinctly the poor , man's light."

Surely after this'there -will be no mor« talk about "the money wasted on the Lake Coleridge scheme," for if so much economy is possible in a )poor man's home it must be manifest that the saving •brought about by the adoption of a general hydro-electrical scheme will very materially lighten the burden of increased taxation, besides giving conveniences and savings that are not possible where coal is used in the home. Nor must it be overlooked that the aim of a hydro-electi-ical national scheme is to foster production, increase efficiency, minimise the drudgery of labour, and give the same economic advantages to all.

But the subject is so important and is arousing Great Britain into activity, that I propose to deal in another letter with the "Interim Report on the Electric Power Supply in Great Britain, "Tecently issued, and its application to our own proposals, should you deem the question of sufficient public importance.—l am, etc., H. HILL. Napier, 10th June.