ELECTRICAL POWER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16493, 7 March 1914, Page 12

ELECTRICAL POWER.

PROFESSOR SCOTT AT LAKE ; COLERIDGE. . GREATLY IMPRESSED WITH THE j ' WORK. ' When schemes were brought forward : some years ago to harness the Waimakariri River in order to supply power to Christchurch, Professor R. J. Scott, of Canterbury College, expressed a strong opinion that they would not be successful. He said that it would be better to leave the river, with its i manifold eccentricities, alone, and seek }' a source of power in other directions. This week he paid his first visit to the works at Lake Coleridge, and as he has made himself familiar with hydroelectrical schemes in Switzerland and other European countries, he was asked yesterday, soon after his return from the lake, to give in an interview his impressions of the undertaking. .v Professor Scott stated that he could •ay at once that he was greatly impressed, firstly, with the natural ad- , vantages of the locality, and secondly, with the way in which they were being used.-. As a matter of fact, the conditions, treated in .the way they had been’treated by the Department, were practically ideal. To begin with, there was a moderate head, which could bo readily dealt with in the most efficient type of turbine. It was supported by a vast reservoir of water, so vast, indeed, that if all supplies into the lake were cut off, a fall of one foot in the level would give sufficient water to run the plant for twelve months. As the intake was about twenty feet below tbo surface, it was evident that the reserve L' etoTage was enormous. The lake was a gigantic settling-pond, continued Professor Scott, and the water * that went on to the turbines would -be clear of all shingle and grit, and consequently the durability of that : i part of the machinery would he very great. As the intake passed through solid rock, it was protected from all danger of accidental damage. The general character of the whole installation Srecluded all possibility of trouble from ooding.' The general lay-out of the tunnel and the pipe-line, and the site selected for the power-house, seemed to him to be admirable- The scheme was absolutely free from the dangers of flooding, and from tlie difficulties caused by detritus and floating matter frequently associated with hydro-elec-trical schemes. It was obvious that economy had been duly studied. The power-house was a plain, substantial, ferro-concreto building, well adapted for the purpose for which it was intended. The parts of 'the turbines that had been erected gave evidence of excellent workmanship. “ Altogether,” Professor Scott concluded,l feel that the people of Canterbury should be congratulated on possessing a source of power unique in character. It will yield supplies for many- years; and, if such a step is deemed necessary in the future, there i are no serious engineering difficulties in the way of diverting the whole stream of the Harper River into the lake and through the power-house.”