HYDRO-ELECTRIC

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 91, 17 April 1923, Page 8

HYDRO-ELECTRIC

DEVELOPMENT IN GREAT BRITAIN

ELECTRIFICATING RAILWAYS

INTERESTING STATEMENT BY MB.

EVAN PARRY.

Mr. Evan Parry, whose name is well 'known throughout tho world in connection with hydro-electric development, is at present on a visit to New ZealandMr, and Mrs. Parry were passengers by the Tainui, which arrived from England yesterday. The New Zealand Government was fortunate in securing the services of such a distinguished practical engineer in inaugurating the power supply schemes in New Zealand. As chief Government electrical engineer, Mr.. Parry inaugurated the Lake Coleridge scheme, and he planned the North Island electrification system. He left New^ Zealand about four years ago to take up' an important appointment in England, name, that of Engineer-in-Chief of the English Electric Company. It_ may be here stated that this company is associated with Messrs. Arroll and Company, and with the British Locomotive Company, under the title of the British Electric Traction and Finance Company, the object of which is to enable comprehensive contracts to be carried out, involving all classes of engineering work. The English Electric Company is an amalgamation of the Siemens Company, the Dick Kerr Company, the Coventry Ordnance, the Phoenix Company, and Messrs. Willans and Robinson. "My object in coming to New Zealand." remarked Mr. Parry to a "Post" representative to-day, "is to represent the English Electric Company at the opening of the Otira Tunnell electrification, which takes place shortly. Our company had the contract for the powerstation plant, for the electric locomotives, and for the distribution plant. The system carried put at Otira is a system which has since been adopted as the standard by Great Britain for the British railways and for the French railways. The tunnel is 5^ miles long, and the total length of the electrified portion is 8£ miles. POSITION IN GREAT BRITAIN. In reply to a question, Mr. Parry said: "Electricity supply in Great Britain is making enormous strides, and the demand for power is quite phenomenal. The municipal districts are served mainly by municipally-owned plants, and the industrial areas by means of power companies; and inasmuch as their activities were largely confined to industrial areas, a body of electricity commissioners has been set up for the purpose of extending the use of electricity and rendering it more generally available ; and with this end in view there is a scheme whereby Great Britain is divided up into some sixteen areas, which will be served by a few large power stations, linked up with the existing power-stations. By this means it is anticipated that a saving of 100 million tqns of coal a year will be effected by generating in ■ a few large powerstations, over a generating power in a larger number of smaller powerstations. ELECTRIFYING RAILWAYS IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE. "The question of the electrification of railways," said Mr. Parry, '-'is a very live, one both in England and in France. In France 5000 miles of railway are being electrified. It is anticipated that it will take twenty years to' complete this work. Railway electrification is being carried 1 out on systematic lines in South Africa, Japan, and India. The scarcity anti cost of coal and the poor quality of the. coal that is available has I stimulated the demand for the supply of electricity for power and for domestic purposes." NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS. On his attention being drawn to the possibility of the electrification of railways in New Zealand, Sir. Parry eaid that it was not altogether a practicable proposition on any big scale until such time as electric power becomes generally available from the Government power stations. "The electrification of the Otira Tunnel is a special case," he added, "as the service there could not be conducted otherwise, owing to the length of the tunnel and the steep gradient." Mr. Parry expects to be in New Zealand for two or three months, and will return to England via Australia and Ceylon.