LAKE COLERIDGE SUPPLY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 18237, 27 October 1919, Page 6

LAKE COLERIDGE SUPPLY.

Although a number of untoward circumstances in tho first four years of the Lake Coleridge electrical supply’s history were not foreseen by tho experts who prepared tho estimates of its financial career, tho undertaking has proved itself sufficiently vigorous and healthy to stand the additional strain, and for the last six months, constituting the first half of the current financial year, it has produced a revenue exceeding the estimate by £2864, and its expenditure has been £640 lower than was predicted. * The undertaking is not of the typo which can be made self-supporting at the outset, but at the end of its fifth year, next March, it should have caught up with its deficits, and should be yielding a gross profit sufficient to defray interest and depreciation charges, - which is all that it is wanted to do. The statistics regarding the undertaking contained in the Publio Works' Statement show a steady growth of revenue year by year, and it Is noteworthy that while revenue has increased from £BSIB in 1915-16 to £37,324 in 1918-19, the cost of operation in the same period has risen at a much lower ratio, from £9383 to £17,1381 During the' last financial year the power plant at Lake Coleridge, consisting of four 1500 kilowatt generators, has been working practically at full pressure night and day. The total connected load stood, at the end of March last, at 81,189 kilowatts, which means, of course, the aggregate consumption of current ef oil lamps and motors and so forth connected with the mains. The fact that they are never all used , at once makes it possible to supply them from a generating capacity of only 6000 kilowatts, but the need of an additional generator is being felt keenly. One was ordered two years ago. Its foundations and other construction work have been completed, but the machinery cannot yet bo obtained from overseas, and the interest on the cost of the work already done remains a dead load on the undertalcing. Since the plant commenced to operate there has been a capital expenditure upon it of over £80,600, in various extensions, and the cost of this work has greatly exceeded all estimates owing to war conditions- It will be seen, therefore, that while this undertaking has commenced its operations under the shadow of the war, and while its development and extension have been restricted by tho impossibility of procuring necessary plant and material, it has not only weathered the storm, but has come through with flying colours. Obviously it cannot reach its most economical rate of operation until it is working at full capacity, and the generating plant at present installed, while just about equal to the present connected load, is not the limit of the power available. The demand for current is a continuously increasing one, and if Lake Coleridge is to give its maximum and most economical service the plant must' be increased in capacity at the earliest possible moment. There is a vote of £90,000 on the Public Works Estimates for this purpose, and it is to be hoped that it will be possible to spend it. It is almost unnecessary to speak, in Canterbury, of the benefits which a cheap supply of electricity haa brought in its train. Municipally, domestically and industrially, the results have been important and far-reaching. Our city street lighting is vastly improved, and suburban districts which before 1916 were lightlesa are now well illuminated. At the end of the last financial year there were 2800 street lamps in and around Christchurch, and! 205 of these wore installed during the year. At the same time fifty additional street lamps were installed in Sumner and sixty-seven ini New Brighton. In the home the supply of Lake Coleridge current has helped the fight against tho high cost of living by providing lighting at little more than a nominal figure, while in the factory, workshop and foundry cheap current has helped production and fostered the installation of labour-saving machinery. The report presented by Mr Lawrence Birks, Acting-Chief Electrical Engineer, mentions that several new industries havo been developed as the result of tho Lake Coleridge supply. Iron oxide is being manufactured for the purposes of paint; oxygen gas is being produced from water by direct electro-

lysis; electrical steel-smelting is to be embarked upon, and effective uses have been found for the current in connection with the freezing industry. From a national standpoint the Lake Coleridge plant was a distinct asset daring the recent coal shortage, producing power equivalent to that derivable from 100,000 tons of oonl per annum. As we have said, the Lake Coleridge plant has not yet reached its maximum of usefulness. Timaru has yet to be connected, and as the generating plant is added te we hope to see the supply reticulated in all directions throughout the length and breadth of the province. The results of the undertaking, which has shown such splendid results under adverse circumstances, servo as a complete endorsement of the soundness of the Government’s proposals for the development of water power throughout the Dominion. Tho work will have the good wishes of everyone in Canterbury. But even more important than new hydro-electric installations is the duty of placing tho Lake Coleridge installation at tho earliest possible moment in a position where it can realise its maximum earning capacity. This is a matter of national economy.

In the current issue of “Life” a comparison is given of the record of various countries participating in the war in the matter of internal war loans. Ten of the belligerent countries raised such loans, and the maximum rate o i subscription per head of population was reached, as might be expected, by Germany, who had to raise almost the whole of her war expenditure domestically. Germany’s per capita contribution was £63. Britain comes second with £62, and New Zealand third with £4O, not a bad record for a country which Reform financial critics averred would be ruined by one-tenth of that subscription. Austria takes fourth place with £39, for reasons akin to that which places Germany at the head of the list, and Australia is fifth with a per capita subscription of £37. France raised £34 per head, Canada £22, Hungary and the United States £2l, and Italy £l4. America’s late entry to the war is responsible for her low place in the list, but she probably had a bigger record of subscriptions per head of population per month, while she waa at it, than any other country. The Reform system of letting patriotic loans take their own chances finds no places in the strenuous philosophy of the great Republic.

The “principle” adopted by the Government of raiding the revenue to keep down the cost of living, hy means of subsidies, is so immoral and unsound that we are-surprised at it receiving very little criticism. Very few politicians and not many newspapers seem to realise the .situation and tho dangers of tho policy. We are glad to see that the Auckland “Star ” agrees with us in condemning the subsidy .scheme. The “Star” says:—“One wonders where the policy is going to end. The State is now subsidising flour and butter, and it will be fortunate if under the new Act it does not have to. subsidise housing. It is said that the price of tea may rise to 4s a pound, in which case the Government would probably be quite willing to subsidise the tea merchant in order to keep the price down to half a crown. It is a vicious circle, and it is unthinkable that in a sanely-governed country it should be permanent. Abnormal conditions may make it undesirable or impossible to break it completely now, but the Government must make up its mind to put 1 a limit to its continuance. Such a system of subsidies is the line of least resistance, and to take it means putting off the real struggle with, the cost of living problem. It creates false values, blurs the real outlines of the problem, and confirms people in their erroneous ideas of economics.”

A good deal of prominence was given in the ’cable news a few weeks ago to the phenomenal decrease in coal output in British coal mines following the institution of a shorter working .day, and to tho decision of the Government, in consequence of this decrease, to raise tho price by 6s per ton. Tho other side of the story is now available. Sir L. Chiozza Money, writing in the “ Daily News,” alleges that the whole business was a " ba?o political move.” Tlie Board of Trade on September 3 last issued a statement of output;, week by week, from May 31 to August 9, showing a continual dwindling of output from 4,812,595 tons in tho first week to 2,642,895 in the last. Sir L. O. Money suggests that the return stopped short at August 9, because that was a holiday week, and marked the greatest falling off in production, and tho object was to force a compari- ( son between a high-week in May with an abnormally low week in August. He shows that after August 9 the output continually increased, the following additional figures being given :

Week ending Tons. August 16 ... 8.726,499 August 23 ... 3,989,762 August 30 ... . 4.354,983 September 6 - . . . 4,509,863 Sir L. G. Money points out that the last figure represents production at the rate of 234,000,000 tons per annum. The Sankey Report estimated a production of 250,000,000 tons per annum, and there is no doubt, according to Sir L. C. Money, that when transport facilities and supplies of timber and . other material are improved, the Sankey Report estimate will be justified.