THE COST OF ARAPUNI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18017, 16 February 1922, Page 6

THE COST OF ARAPUNI.

The particular instances given by a correspondent to-day are merely typical of the difficulties and the uncertainty with which the industrial development of the Auckland Province is embarrassed by the attitude of the Government toward the prosecution of tho Arapuni scheme. The only reasonable explanation of this hesitation is that it is nervous about embarking upon a project of such large dimensions and involving such a largo expenditure. Positive conclusions on both points have been reached by its expert advisers, and evidence is .available from other countries that the cost is reasonable and the engineering problems capable of solution. The superiority of waterpower over steam generation has been emphatically endorsed by a committee of the British Board of Trade which, after an exhaustive investigation, has recommended that " every inducement should be given to use a perennial source of energy like water rather than a wasting asset like coal." Recently the London County Council and other local authorities obtained estimates for steam plants to develop about 265,000 h.p. The total cost was set down at £9,750,000, equivalent to nearly £38 per horse power. The corresponding estimate for the development of 50,000 h.p. at Arapuni—including the completion of the dam for a plant of 162,000 h.p.-— is £1,305,000 for the head works, or £26 per h.p., while tho total cost of head works, transmission and substatiojos is estimated at £37 10s. In its physical dimensions the Arapuni dam is dwarfed by a project commenced in California last June and to be completed next yeail This is a storage dam to impound the waters of the Tuolumne River for irrigation purposes. It is to be built in concrete, the main wall being 280 ft. in height, 176 ft. wide at the base, and 972 ft. wide at the top. The Arapuni dam will be 176 ft. high and about 300 ft. wide at the top. The most striking feature of the Don Pedro dam is that it is to serve two districts with a combined area of 260,000 acres, and, convinced by the prosperity that has been created by a smaller scheme completed 17 years ago, the farmers and business men of the two counties have themselves financed the whole undertaking. Thirty years ago this district was " a barren waste," and the building of the dam involves a capital liability of about £8 an acre, but visualising the " millions of dollars " that will be won by ample irrigation, the district has boldly made the investment. Yet there is hesitation in-undertaking a project much smaller in cost and in dimensions, designed to serve not merely a quarter of a million acres but at least sixteen million acres in Auckland and Taranaki, areas that never have been barren, but are capable of producing enormous wealth with the aid of abundant power for farm and factory.