ELECTRIC POWER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22149, 1 July 1935, Page 12

ELECTRIC POWER

Sir, —Friday night's black out of the electric-power supply was a more serious matter for this country than any of us have so far realised, it just goes to prove that we aro putting all our eggs iu the one basket with Airapuni. Should any serious mishap occur there, such as an earthquake, or, in the case of war, an aerial attack, the whole of the Auckland Province would be out of action. Most of our industrial plants and 60 or 70 per cent of our farmers are entirely dependent on electricity to-day, and it seems rather foolish that we have no satisfactory stand-by plants. It was interesting to note the remarks of the manager of the Auckland Power Board that it might be necessary to bring in the King's Wharf steam plant again. Hecently the Pahnerston North C'itv Council ordered a Diesel generating plant to supply the city. The Government department did everything in its power to try and stop the installation. What we need is more of these generating plants which are able to start up in less than five minutes should there be a failure in the main source of supply. If stand-by plants of this description were distributed about the country, there would be no danger_ of tho whole of our industrial load being out of action at the one time. D. B. Morton.