WAITAKI HARNESSED

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 27 October 1934, Page 6

WAITAKI HARNESSED

Dominion’s Greatest Electric Power Works Opened A REMARKABLE FEAT SIX YEARS TO COMPLETE (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WAITAKI HYDRO, To-dav. A little over six years ago it became apparent that the Lake Colei - idge hydro-electric plant would be unable to cope with the ever-increasing demands made upon it, so the Government sought for and found a bigger source of power —the Waitaki Rivei, which, if it were fully developed, would provide one million horsepower. Since then, work has proceeded night and day on tlie construction of JNew Zealand’s mightiest dam, the biggest individual engineering undertaking ever attempted by the Public M orks Department of the Dominion. To-day the works were officially opened. Ike genius of Mr F. T. M. Kissel (chief electrical engineer to the department) conceived and designed the scheme, and the administrative and organising ability of Mr Rl. H. Packwood <en-gineer-in-charge at Waitaki Hydro), carried it through successfully. Linked up with Lake jQoleridge and Lake Waipori, this plant will now provme electric power for the major part of the South Island. Unless one has been closely connected with the work, it would be difficult to gain any conception of the incessant toil, in offices, in workshops, on land and in water; the hardships, with mountain storms and blizzards, snow, floods and temperatures langing from 48 degrees below freezing point in winter to about 90 degrees of heat in summer; the care and problems that accompanied the control of over 1000 men and their families; the constant risks, not only to material and plant worth many thousands of pounds, but al-so to life and limb; and a myriad important details. The genius of man has triumphed over the colossal forces of nature in a long and stern battle, in which nine lives 'have been lost and about 1400 casualties, fortunately mostly minor, have been recorded. . A treacherous river at any time, the Waitaki has been deemed unconquerable by many old settlers, but the battlers were favoured by fortune, for not once during the whole six years was a real “old man” flood encountered. The roaring flood pouring over the great spillway to-day inspired awe in the observers, but there must also have been wonder when it was realised that the flow was only moderate, compared with that of a big flood. The total length of the Waitaki dam is 1800 feet, with a spillway of 1200 feet, and it far exceeds in volume the next largest in the country, Arapuni. It contains half-a-million tons of concrete, the maximum height being 120 feet, and thickness at the base 145 feet.’ This huge barrage now controls the flow of a river' which, in flood time, is six times as great as that of the Waikato at Arapuni. The powerhouse is a handsome building, 350 feet long, 150 feet wide and 130 feet high and is an integral part of the dam.’ Its lofty windows with Normanarched tops, lend .in air of dignity to the splendid lighting of the interior. There is provision for five turbo-gener-ators, each developing 23,000 horsepower, But at present only two have been installed.

A beautiful lake, 5£ miles long and 1} miles wide at its widest part, has been formed and provides, an enthralling picture in its setting of mountain grandeur. The tips of poplar and willow [trees,/ whjich surround 'submerged homesteads, are peeping above tho surface of the water, appearing like miniature islands. A magnificent spectacle is provided by the great fall over the spillway, the largest waterfall in the Dominion. The disruptorg in the downstream face of the dam break the fall and form it into a sparkling, effervescing cascade which, in a curtain of mist, disappears into the turbulent waters below. / Inside the powerhouse is comparative peace, the machinery providing enough power to drive a battleship without the slightest fuss or noise—in fact, apart from mere size, the great turbines are less impressive than the little generators that supply about 600 horsepower for domestic uses in the powerhouse and village. The sight of this monument to the ingenuity and perseverance of man among the majestic mountain scenery is one that will live long in the memories of the hundreds of people who congregated there to-day.

HIS ADDRESS. His Excellency file 'Governor-Gen-eral (Lord Bledisloe) said that of all Governmental activities in the Dominion there was probably none more important and certainly none more calculated to assist in expanding its industrial prosperity, its domestic comtort and its social amenities, than the prudent development of its hydroelectric resources and their progressive and application to the multifarious requirements of modern civilisation. There was scope for wide differences of opinion regarding tile relative value and efficiency of private enterprises and that of the Government and public authorities. But in tho matter of harnessing water power for a nation’s economic and domestic requirements there must be few who could reasonably doubt tlie wisdom of any Government enterprise if guided by expert knowledge, long vision ,courage and reasonable economy.

Making full allowance for some costly experience and temporary setbacks, such as that which occurred at Arapuni three years ago, there was no ground for dissatisfaction with electrical development in this . Dominion. If allowances were made for the moun. tainous character and thin population of the areas not yet reticulated it would be found that electric supply was available to no less than 94 per cent, of the total population (a percentage probably not exceeded in any other country in the world), with an average consumption per capita, of about 500 units a year—a rate which was steadily increasing. The total capital . invested in electrical supply undertakings in New Zealand was £32,000,000, of which £28,000,000 had been expended in the last 11 years. During the same period Government expenditure had amounted to £lO,000,000.

Any movement which tended to knit town and country /more closely together and to cause their respective communities, to realise their mutual interdependence and identity of interests was of outstanding national importance, and this wes especially true of the supply and distribution, of electricity. AVhat indeed seemed to be needed more than anything else, if overhead costs and unit charges were to be lowered and rural uses for electric current amplified, was a fuller recognition of the complementary possibilities of user on the part of urban and rural consumers and the extent to which one could assist the other. There was a great variety of farm processes to which electricity might usefully be applied with great convenience and profit to the farmer. A good illustration on arable farms was cultivation by the tractor. If this and other like farm operations could he conducted at hours other than those of the peak load (say between 11.15 and 11.45 a.m., and between 4 and 5 p.m.) in the urban areas such user of current should constitute an attractive proposition to the supplying authorities and should, judging by European experience, involve a cost of "no more than Id per unit, and ultimately considerably less. If any euch user on the farms should, by its growth, constitute a new peak hour, it v r ould become possible to lower the rates for cooking and other domestic processes in the towns. In fact, by mutual accommodation at peak hours, the more that current was employed for cooking, the less it would cost at non-peak hours for farm tractors and other similar farm machinery, and the more that the latter could work at such hours the greater the prospect of reducing domestic charges. In initiating fresh applications of electricity to farm requirements it must not be left to the farmer to undertake possibly costly experiments of an isolated character. It would amply repay the supplying authority to expend money in demonstrations' and advertisement.

The much criticised lack of uniformity in the quality of New Zealand dairy produce in British markets was in no small measure due to the inadequate scouring, with steam or boiling water, of mTTfeing machines and other dairy utensils on the farms. He could confidently prophesy that if and when electricity became available for this purpose to the majority of dairy farmers the average value of this Dominion’s butter and cheese in Great Britain would rise by at least a Id per lb., and thereby on many a wellleanaged farm bridge the gap between loss and profit

He desired most heartily' to congratulate Mr F. T. M. Kissell, Chief Electrical Engineer of the Public Works Department, Mr R. H. Packwood, the district civil engineer, and Mr L. S. Payne, electrical engineer, and all' those who, during the last seven years, had been responsible for the designing and successful execution, in face of many difficulties, of this great engineering feat, of which they and their fellow countrymen, as well as the Government, had every reason to be proud. It was satisfactory to note that the plant, machinery and construction materials required for tho purpose were almost without exception Empire products. It was his earnest hope and prayer, as he formally declared open this epoch-making undertaking, that it would prove an incalculable blessing to people of all classes in this part of the Dominion and usher in a- new era of prosperity, happiness and industi'ial progress. STATEMENT FROM MR COATES. The following statement relative to the opening of the Waitaki hydroelectric works was made by Mr Coates who was unable to attend the ceremony : “It is pleasing to see that successive Governments and successive Ministers have oonferred on the policy of the development of the Dominion’s wonderful resources in water power on broad national lines, and in conformity with a definite scheme. I think it is generally agreed among those who are conversant with the power supply problem, that New Zealand has tackled the problem in the correct way and that the Government has been well advised by its technical experts in launching and carding through the various developments that have been completed. “The settling up of various power

boards throughout the Dominion has done a great deal to bring the development of electricity to its present high state. It has given to the people, generally through local authority in the district, a direct interest in this great business and there is no question that the energy and enthwiasm ot these local power boards hat\? enabled lines to bo pushed out into areas that would have been difficult if work had been attempted by one organisation alone. “It may bo that in one or two cases these local controlling authorities have been unduly optimistic and may, in their enthusiasm, have gone a little further than later experience would have dictated as being wise. Considering the size and complexity of the task that has been undertaken, howover, I think we can safely say that not many mistakes have been made, and that those mistakes are more than counter-balanced by the many advantages that accrued from the policy that has been adopted. One of the most pleasing features of the development generally has been the co-opera-tion between town and country.”