WAIKAREMOANA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4815, 12 March 1918, Page 7

WAIKAREMOANA.

DIFFICULT TO BEAT IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD. (By H. Hill.) Now that the question of hydroelectric power is in the air. it may he of some interest to your readers to kn'ow something as to the directions in which electrical power is utilised in Canterbury as the outcome of the Lake Coleridge scheme. In a fminer letter it- was shown how beneficially the supply of light had acted on the' domestic life of the people and the rapidity with which households are coming to use electricity for lighting and other purposes. But this is only one aspect of the question. The City Council of Christchurch is a very large consumer, but the Christchurch Tramways Board has commenced to utilise the Lake Coleridge supply, although it lias a steam plant capable of providing the necessary power without the help of the Lake Coleridge supply. But observe the benefit. By using the electrical power from Lake Coleridge “the cost of power for operating the tramways has been reduced by more than £2OOO per annum, although the steam plant previously used was of a highly efficient type.” This shows what Gisborne may expect should the Waikaremoana scheme be adopted as a national scheme. But even these benefits are small compared with the widening of the industrial benefits that are taking place daily. Freezing works like the Islington. Belfast, and Kaiapoi, are already linked' up with the Lake Coleridge scheme, and the fourth will also .be linked up as soon as power is available. Five flour, mills arc now run with the power from the lake, and the advaiitage is so marked that the cost of milling power has been reduced from -L 6d per ton to about 2s per ton. _ Tanneries and fellmongeries, dairies and butter factories, quarries and brickyards, and a pottery arc being carried on by means of Lake Coleridge power, and many others are waiting for a supply. In the matter of hospitals and similar institutions, the conveniences are manifold. Within the present limits of service- there are six hospitals and similar institutions supplied at £1 per month per -kilowatt of maximum demand. This enables the power to be utilised for a wide variety of purposes with the greatesteconomy. If the power is used for lighting only, for an average, say, of 1000 hours per year, the cost ps less than threepence per unit—Gisborne ninepcnce. Up to the lighting capacity the energy can be used on this scale at other hours .of the day at no additional cost. Thus it is available for heating, cooking, refrigerating, pumping, milking, shearing, chaff-cutting, sawing, sewing, and ironing and other laundry work. Between 10 p.m. and 9 a-m. it- is used for hot-water heating at- no additional cost. Thus at Sunnyside Hospital, by combining all these operations and keeping a graphical record or the demand by means of a curve-drawing watt-meter, the energy is obtained for all purposes at a rate below twothirds of a penny per unit which, still yields to the Works Department a return of.£l per month per kilowatt of maximum demand.

These quotations are summarised from the report of Ur Birks, the electrical engineer, Public Works Dc--1 partment, in Christchurch. One might deal with other important uses of hydro-electrical power, but one quotation dealing with “transport” must suffice for the present. A good deal of discussion has taken place as to the best kind of lorry suitable for general use. I quote from Mr Birks: —“The petrol lorry running, say, fifteen miles to the gallon, costs twopence per unit for fuel only. The electric battery car or lorry is garaged, examined, and charged up every night hv the Christchurch City Council at- £3O to £6O per- year, according to capacity, ranging from ’half-ton to three-ton lead, i.e.. from 2s to 4s per day, giving a daily range of GO miles. Even if only forty-eight miles per day of this range can he utilised effectively, the cost of electricity per mile is.only a halfpenny for a half-ton lorry or car, and up to one penny for a three-ton lorry. There are about a dozen such vehicles now in use in Christchurch for various purposes, and provision is being made, -in anticipation of this number increasing to five or six hundred in the near future. The City Council’s electric battery lorry for the carriage of coal and refuse is not only propelled, but also tipped, by electric power.” The utilisation of cheap electric power means a new social, industrial and economic world following the war, and it is the duty of every citizen wishing to participate in the advantages such as are mentioned here and many others that might" be mentioned, to do his and her little bit to push on the claims of the North Island. It is all very well to say that a promise has been made. There have been many promises made for ns in the past, but their fulfilment has yet to come. Go along the coast to the north-east and north, and what have you but a single, halfmade road, that is impassable in winter and badly neglected in summer. The products of our cpastal districts are of great value, and they eould.be largely increased were communication improved and lands opened out/for the convenience of settlers. All these things could he helped directly by means of hydro-electrical power. Nature has given us the means, and man’s ingenuity can utilise the means if only the country determines the character and extent, of the work, Economics can be practised by the simple means of utilising Nature’s gift of water storage, and surely our aim should be to push forward our claims to instant recognition, if only as a means of economising in our homes, our workshops, factories, and places where light, heat, and power are necessary. Christchurch and the whole of North Canterbury are alive to the immense advantages to he de-'J rived from the exploitation of water power for the common good, and a similar single aim and end should keep all of Us determined in effort in fostering the Waikaremoana scheme for the North Island. Since finishing this article there has come to hand an interview with Mr G. P. Anderson assistant electric-/ al engineer of the Public Works Department. His remark in reply to his interviewer is significant. Hasn’t the Waikaremoana scheme got a hope? Answer; The Waikaremoana. scheme has a very big hope. It is doubtful if' the Waikaremoana scheme could he beaten in any part of the world; but the difficulty with regard to it is its distance from a market. This is an excellent answer, and, as it comes from the authorities direct, it shows what the League lias to do—to ccnvincv the North Island settlers that the objection re distance is mere moonshine. Distance indeed ! We have the statement of Mr Parry himself and of Mr George Nelson, “That the lines can he made to pay their way as thev go.” Nothing further need ho said here, -Juit the.assistant engineer’s remarks certainly show us what has to he done to get light, heat, and power from a place that it would he difficult to heat in any part of the world. Three cheers for Waikaremoana. Once! twice!! thrice !! ! And three again !