The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1910.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10587, 18 October 1910, Page 3

The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1910.

The WaterPowor Bill has been long enough «.!i>hiyed to p.' - "- Water Powers, duce uio impression that its provisions havo boon fully considered by tho vagi- ' neers in detail. Perusal of tho Bill ■; eoiifiriiis this conjecture, so far as appearances go. Prima facie, tho Bill proposes to start a scheme costing in the aggregate two and a-half millions ; of money at an expenditure rate of half a million a year —as announced in tho Budget—which will satisfy a very , large proportion of tho requirements ; of the Dominion so far as lighting and industrial power aro concerned. Auckland is provided for with an installation at Kaituna, tho north-eastern portion of the Wellington district and the south-eastern part of Hawke's Bay are to depend on tho Makuri Falls so much ; talked of, Southern Otago is to rely on Teviot, Southland gets sufficient from Lake Hauroto, Southern Welling- ! ton finds itself with works at Akataraws, in the valley of tho Upper Hutt, and West-land is informed that the extension of the works at Kumara will give tho people of the district all the power they need for some years. Such is apparently tho scopo of this great scheme—one of the greatest ever put before the Dominion. There are some large gaps which will be pointed out with more or less vigor by the people most concerned. For instance, the Napier and Gisborno people and those cf Southern Auckland—Bay of Plenty way and that ilk—have already made remonstrance that nothing has been said of the much-talked-of Waikaremoana, or of the Te Rcinga I alls further to the east in the Bay of Plenty district. Their remonstrance has elicited the somewhat unexpected explanation that these places were omitted ;by an oversight from the scheme laid before Parliament. they were promised, however, that the 1 üblic Works Statement would make amends, and that before the Statement is delivered the choice will be mado between Waikaremoana and the 1< alls of Te Ttcinga. Tho cost of this installation vill, according to tho Premier, run into some £300,000. Now the scheme outlined for Parliament on Wednesday night represents an agcrecate cost of nearly two millions. But as the Premier added to the explanation of the scheme ho gave the Housethat the total cost would be safer to reckon at two and a-half millions, there would seem to bo room for the Wai-karemoana-To Reinga alternative costing £300,000. Even then, however, the gaps elsewhere will require adjustments nf some kind. Nelson, Marlborough. South Canterbury, and North Otago are -without anything tangible. There will bo an outcry about a handicap. In tho matter of competitive industry there will be acute _ trouble in all probability in this direction. J hat the railways are not provided lor is not a disappointment, as no one ox-, ported that there uould in'tho present st-ite of electric'development be any provision for electrifying the railway <-.v»lem. But the main tunnels at M'ttelton and tho Otira will be provided with electric power at once; that is to sav, within the live years allotted to the scheme. For the rest of tho scheme as outlined there is reason tor congratulation. Tho engineers see their | way after a careful estimate of existing conditions, and full study of. all possibilities of flood and drought times, to offer tho Dominion districts named an 'aggregate of 69,000 horse-power'Awith Waikaremoana added, about 70,000), a quantity sufficient for many years to come "The cost is almost a marvel. Whereas the present cost of power, runs 'to between £ls and £2O per horsepower,' the schem© is declared to be 'f.ble'to substitute all that mariie 'wanted at something like £lO.- This -represents a saying of between 50 ana 33 per cent, of tho cost at present. The Government is to be congratulated on having presented a scheme of great magnitude of substantial value ami w ; th a prospect of speedy construction. They may not have completed the work for the whole Dominion, but they have certainlv given such an instalment of performance as compared with promise as to justify cordial congratulation. They havo proved themselves something very much bettor than idle dreamers. As practical men, worthv of th<? position they hold in tho Dominion, thev have made a good record, establishing an additional claim to the confidence of the constituencies. It adds to the public gratification that after this first tapping of tho water

reserves of the Dominion there is in sight very clearly a vast supply waiting for future development, Even is it evident at the present stage, which t has been reached by scientific anil technical slvill, that the- requirements of irrigation, which is one of the gr<>at coming features of agriculture in many parts of;tbo Dominion, will not sudor in the slightest degree. But despite- this general satisfaction, it behoves us to seo that in this -district we are not short circuited and left in the shades beyond the reach of the electric enlightenment.