MATER-POWER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7850, 12 July 1911, Page 1

MATER-POWER

STATE EXPERT ARRIVES MR PARRY ON NEW ZEALAND POSSIBILITIES. Thft Dominion's chief electrical expert. Mr Evan lurry, who arrived yesterday <m the E'orinUtic from England, rest’s th«* Dominion from an electrical viewpoint very much iu the samo way an the curly pioneers who made a le?s speedy ami more ci.milorUe.ss passage iu the,early ila;,s. Mr Parry is wedded to the) pioneer.:iy s ; de of electricity, and hej thinks England has lost many of itsaUraciinns to him. "Ail the xnoneer.ag work in lighting and nearly all in; trainv/ay comdrmddon. Juis Leu done! then-/* 'ho remarked lo a "New Zealand’ Times" roprt-M iitaUvo wk'> chatted w.tu him on his "Tim c-kclr -cul power business is thoroughly under weigh, and the railway:-, are a h.t hanging fire m vegaru to •.•iecir.Hcata-u. though ais Iwaml to cum? iu time. *'* RAILWAYS AND ELECTRICITY. bo mined*nV wlvenul trom steam traction Mr" Parry wa- i)Aul. itc war. not sure us h- lo be ui regard to England. "Umo you have uiEmam; conditions —a small popu.at.oa wide.y dmmhuttd —and under those circumkUmicis, .speaking in a general way, it is hiu'U to mat tuio steam Locomotive. Eat wnero eicctr.cjtv will bo cd iminenso vaiuc will I* on the rteep gradients, because 01 the inucu iiigaer power whit’ll van be apiuied on a tram, and Ihe facility with which a train can bo split into independent sections. Uu sumiroau linos in Englaml the coiapaiuts have, boon loi-c----od to electrify owing to the advantages over steam in a congested area. ESSENTIALS FOR POWER SCHEMES. “■You want reservoirs/' was Mr Parry's! first comment when ho was asked to mention. tho essentiaus of successful hydro-* electric power sciiernes. "1 have seen many an electric scliemc go wrong tor want of storage. lon may get half a muJioii horse power for rune months out of a river, and only 50,000 horse power for three months, so the latter is all you can reckon on selling/' “Well. New Zealand has a lake twenty, five miles across in the centre of the North Island." remarked the interviewer, and Mr Parry declared that this was a tremendous asset in a power schemeHo stated, that what usually seemed lo happen in undeveloped countries where ihu records only went back six, or at, tho most, twenty y**ars, was that, an cx J cc*x>tionai and quite unexpected drought, upset calculations. Slid/ a drought usih ally came along a year or two alter installing the power scheme. This had been the experience in Canada, Mexico and California. EL E ETHIC A L IDEALS. * r L have an ambition to see New Zealand supplying the cheapest . electrical power in the world," declared Mr Parry* *T don’t see why it should not he, judging by what I have read of your natural advantages, probably the Dominion, by reason of cheap powci,, will bo able to compete against the. world in tho production of such things, as nitrates. Industry knows no country, it goes where conditions are most economical I have irie-dn _ industries moved oft from England to Norway a .-*' hack again because of some little things occurring to alter the balance ol pio-t duction. The question- of transport to* the world's markets is a big one for Now Zealand, and is where it. would probably pub carbide of calcium, out of the question as a product of Now* Zealand cicatricial jxrwer sdheme?. tho restrictions cn its carriage being yerv severe. I think you ought, by electrical power, to seek to encourage the coun-. try's natural industry, agriculture, and, ♦■hat can be done in many ways; not-* ably by irrigation works depending onj pumps for lifting tho water. The /o* markable case with which electrical power is tansmitted gives it great value Sor those things." 'Dut is there not a great wastage ir ‘-transmission?" Mr Parry was asked. “Yon need not trouble about wastage difficulties if the transmission is le« than 400 or 500 miles/' was the reply. “Tho wastage on a hundred miles ox power lino might hq 5 per cent., or it might pay you to have different condi*. tioufl and allow 10 per cent, to go to 'waste. - '* As an indication of iho cost of bkctrical power for factory use. Mri Parrv mentioned that the Lancashire Electric Power Company. with which 1m was professionally concerned, supplies -factories at five-eighths of a, penny per unit. The power is required for about fiftr-eight hours a week, and tho nutput at present is 10.000 horse-power^ 1 hough tho district'served uses two mih lion horse-power. The current is, geu-i orated from steam and tho transmission, extern! over x sixteen to tiwmtyvjilos radius. l r onr year? a-o Mr Parry nad toe possibilities of’X'Sv Zealand's water-power resources brousht under Ws notice, an n.ttemnt haying been made to traise ra pi ini in London lo develop the power W privalo enterprise, but tho scheme fell through-