HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 25 June 1924, Page 7

HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

ARAPUNI SCHEMETENDERS CONSIDERED. (BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON. June 24. The tenders received for the construction of the Arapuni hydro-electric scheme, .which is to- meet the needs of a large portion of the Auckland/ district, were considered by a committee of Cabinet this afternoon, and the recommendation of this committee will be submitted to a full meeting of Cabinet for approval. At the moment the Arapuni scheme is the largest electrical undertaking of its kind in the world open for competition. Bigger schemes there have been in the past, and no doubt there will bein the future, but just now electrical construction firms have nothing on a greater scale under way. The tenderers were, for sections 1 and 2, Messrs. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Ltd., the Foundation Co-. Ltd., J. G. White and Co., Ltd., and the English Electric Co., while Sir William Arrol and Co (through Cory, Wright and Salmon) tendered for section two; only. The indications are that hydroelectric power from the first unit at Mangahao will be available somewhere about August 1. Originally it was thought that the scheme would be far enough advanced to allow of the supplv of power at the end of this month, but floods and the railway strike have thrown the preparations bade to a certain extent, so that a month’s delay is practically unavoidable.