The Hawera Star. WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 28. 1929. HOW CANADA REGARDS HYDRO ELECTRICITY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 28 August 1929, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 28. 1929. HOW CANADA REGARDS HYDRO ELECTRICITY.

Delivered every evening by 6 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Meremere, Eraser Road and Ararata.

It may be of interest to ratepayers in South Taranaki, who are to be called upon soon to vote upon a £187,500 electric power proposal, to note the the activity being shown by the public of Canada in regard to hydro-electricity. Canada, with more acres than the United States and a population that could 'almost be packed into New York City, has been driven because of its size to attach overwhelming importance •to its economic conditions. Boldly ; thrustling line after line of railway

athwart, its vast expanse, it laid the foundation for the growing and’ market- ; ing of its wheat. But the limitations of the steam-driven railway—its high ! cost of construction and maintenance, the inflexibility of its routing and the fact that it. is available- for transport only—became increasingly apparent. If the Canadians were to harness properly I the great, land mass at their command, it was clear that all the resources of ' hydro-electric power must .eventually be brought i,n to supplement, the railways and gradually to take over the mam burden of future development. Ontario has taken the lead 1 in hydro-electric power development, that province controlling an electric railway concern of a capital value of £59,000,000. Nearly ,a third of that capital is owned by tin municipalities of the province, a fact

which brings home rather strikingly the truth that oven on the North American continent, where private enterprise has proved such a big factor in industrial development, the people believe in having a big voice in the control of such a. utility as electric power. Incidentally, the charge of something less than two cents per kilowatt an hour ' made in Ontario is said to >be the lowest in- North America. Throughout Canada a. desire is being .manifested to make electricity available, not only to the cities' and their industrial plan ts, but

to the small farmer. Throughout the province of Ontario some 31,000 country people are served through 3790 miles of .transmission lines. These figures give an indication of the vastness of the area to be served', and provide a sharp contrast to the reticulation pro-

position as it exists' in this Dominion which, though it has carried electricity to some outback parts of the country, is compact in area compared with the Canadian portion of the North American continent. It was natural that the great eastern population centre of Ontario should evolve its- power system, but the outlying provinces of the West have not been far behind in getting a grasp of the power situation. Winnipeg is taking new electric power to its factories and mines at a cost of £5,000,000 in the next two years. Saskatchewan

is working oil a. great centralising project for all its' power resources. Alberta lis actively locating sites for future plants, while in British Columbia, with its immense power resources, transmission lines have already found.their way

to small larming communities m several districts. These are mere begin-, nings, but in laying down a, hydro-elec-trical system it is necessary to look ahead of present needs, and electrical authorities in Western Canada make no secret of the fact that they are looking at no. distant date to a. linking up of the power resources of British Colum-

I I bia;, Alberta, and Saskatchewan in a vast interconnected system , comparable in its objects with the chain, system of j generating stations now being establishi ed in New Zealand. This country slinTes •with the .Sister-Dominion, an appreciation of the fact that hydro-electricity is no longer the luxury, or the utility of the- cities. 'Each of these young countries ds determined to bring electricity within easy reach of the man on j the land in: the certain knowledge that its utilisation will mean quicker and j cheaper development and ultimately greater prosperity as production increases.