POWER FOR THE FUTURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23115, 13 August 1938, Page 14

POWER FOR THE FUTURE

The Public Works Department is showing a proper appreciation of future needs by surveying the Waikato River between Taupo and Cambridge with an eye to further power development. Arapuni has had, in sotno respects, an unfortunate past, but the troubles which afflicted it seem to have been surmounted. It has now gone far toward justifying the admiration of it as a power source which Professor . Horncll, a world authority, expressed vigorously but unofficially when he was summoned as a consultant during the worst set-back. With all the unexpected capital loading that repair operations required, Arapuni can hold its own as an economic proposition any country in the world would be glad to possess. The day of development to its full capacity is within much more nearly measurable distance than was dreamed to be possible when work was started. When it arrives, more power sources are bound to be required in the North Island. The Waikato River, snow-fed from the central plateau, and with an enormous additional catchment area, has ideal features. In Lake Taupo nature has provided a perfect reservoir for storage and control. Consequently the Waikato can be expected to provide more power development sites where schemes of economic worth can be founded. If all the projects the Public Works Department had in hand or in view promised as well economically as power development does, particularly in the North Island, it would be better for the country. The great contrast is with railway lines, of less than doubtful value, being added to a system already showing rapid financial deterioration.