BIG WATER-POWER SCHEME.

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 September 1917, Page 3

BIG WATER-POWER SCHEME.

EXTRACTION OF Nil dates c i;UaL '.hull Alii. ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT., VELLINCToN, September 20. A-question mating 10 Lie develop, ment of the big w;uei-power scheme ;u Milford Sound for lire extraciion ■..1 nitrates from Hie air, was as,Red in die House to-day. Mr, E. Newman enquhed from the Minister of Agriculture- whether his attention bad been drawn to die address lately delivered by Mr. Orelii.«lon, Chief i’elegraph Engineer, with reference to a scheme for the extraction of nitrides from the air on lines similar to scheme..;, now in operation in Norway. Germany, Italy, America, and England. Mr. Orchiston mentioned that hydro-electric power eouhl he developed at Te Anau at about Tn per hoi',se-]iower. ns compared with .-C2O •i \ \* i< 11 > »•. i Tli..* itn tv i-i i* (•mill n«-» i i‘

at Niagara, that power could be developed to produce LIUO.UUU worth of products per year, and on this scale would pay dividends, of 100 per cent, A company had bcetn formed to work Hie power, but the Government had, up till now, not consented to die . i \r.. v.bin.

scheme. Mr. Newman asked wimuier he Government, if it could not utilise i!ii? water-power would consider the advisability of allowing a private cdnpanv to acquire the rights., making provision that eventually the property might fall into the hands of die Government. The Hon. \V. D. S. MacDonald (Minister of Agriculture) said that lie had been in eomnniiiical hai with Mr. Orchiston, and had obtained from him a very great deal of dataWhen a;:i opportunity occurred he would submit- all the papers, to Cabinet for consideration. The Hon. W, Eraser (Minister of Public Works) said that the application had conic to him in the (irst, ininstance, and ho would answer the question, as his Department dealt with the development of water-power for electricity. According to an Act, passed hv Parliament some years ago, it was decreed that Hie waterpower of the Dominion was, to he re-

(•Hned for the Government, and was not to lie given to private individuals. In exceptional cases, wheie it could not he used for general purposes over a whole district, in small localities, or iii the case of small streams, exception might be made and concessions granted to municipalities. Tiffs scheme, however was a very big tiling—-one of the biggest in the Dominion- -and wln'ii it was; submitted in him he at once turned it down, lie considered that this was- such a. scheme as Parliament had decided , ; mid not be granted to any privatecompany. Subsequently he submit:ne matter to Cabinet, and Cabinet approved of his decision. Since Inn there had been a constant agiba- ■ to have his decision reversed. He had.no fear the Government would do this 1 , and he fell sure the House 11 ..i 11 i...

. -lid support mm in the action he hud lakoii. It. was such a very big : -!i- nu- that it should nut he allowed to pas*. out of the control of the Co- * vei'iiineiif. Before the application had heeti made he had been for some time in consultation with Mr. Party (eleetiical engineer of the Department), who brought the Lake Coleridge scheme to such success, on the very subject of using this power for the actiot. of nitrates from the air. ■ had told the applicants that ’the Covermnent. would never agree to their proposal, lie saw also that thisi application was being made simply for the purpose of aeijuiring tig, edits and selling them to an American company. Some of the documents sent to him were full of American phrases. He hoped the I lousy would not ask the Covernmefat to part with this very valuable power, deh was available alongside a harbor that would take the biggest vessel afloat, lie was. sure that this power might be used for other purrs than that of the extraction of nitrates. With thisi power we could do certain work in thisi country more cheaply than it could he done in any part of the Australian Continent, There were refractory ores in the neighhoi hood which required electricity fur their proper treatment, it the Covermnent did undertake the harnessing' of this po\vor_ very profitable industries would be developed.