EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10593, 24 October 1910, Page 1

EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The third reading being passed,v tlie ■ ' ' 'Bill for the lhaugurai | Water Power, tiou of tlie new policy i ' _ may be said to'be-as ( good 'as on the ' Statute Book. ;■ ilt- -" received- much / piutical<Lexaini-.a --nation-.■■■: during • -its -passage -through.: the 'House; the most capable o'i „wTjicli was .-raised outside. The latter- nrat-: ? tered, while the. other: was only for .the-: inost pai fc politics. ' For .example, the r : Opposition insisted on - having^ihe l en- * gipeering details before 'tliST were asked to read .the Bilf a • third " time; > or even put it through-Committee. But: in similar cases, when .were the idetails* ever forthcoming ? When ' liasr the > House been given detailed plans' and ; specifications and drawings sucli; as are = necessary before -any ' contractor .can; tender for- the ■ work ? 'We venture tosay that , never-has ■ sucli information* been forthcoming from - any.- Govern"--: ment. ' The famous public works policy of Sir Julius Vogel,' for example,authorised by the" Bill giving 'power for: the of-the money, before a singlo gauge railway was submitted, to the. House." Neither at that period'did it, occur to the Opposition that ii would be a good thnig to make one railway to see how to get along- before making the-others. "In that ease' tliej did not say —"the country will know 'wlxetlier the climatic conditions are favorable to the due turning of the wheels, whether the public .will be reconciled to this method of transit, whether there is really &s little :danger of explosions, broken bridges, , wholesale and retail of pas-; sengers as a somewhatr over-easily per-; suaded Government has seen fit to believe.'-' This is an age of evolution, however, and the politician has evolved .new methods , which,, being- new, are tolerated; but what our fathers would have .thought of them—that is anotlier thmg: But though new, it is not true to say that: there- is any doubt: about J anything connected with the wellbemg in the Dominion, of a well-consideredn policy wlierebv electric power may be: brought over large expanses of country with great benefit. In reality, we are. invited to believe that tlie action of , electricity is 011 its trial" 111 .the Dominion. We should not be surprised to'learn that part of the reason for the delay advised is that it has yet: - co be. demonstrated whether- 111 an unprecedented^ -big water scheme (owing■ to. climatic and other -reasons too numer-. ous for the poor politician to mention), water mav -not d-eyelop a tendency to - fun up hill, to tlie detriment of the neighboring mountains. All the criticism,' however, has not been wasted. It has brought into bold relief the -fact that the series of schemes taken up by., the Government has -been well, considered and that it is well understood that the work of survey preliminary lias not yet been completed—witness the. statement 111 the ■ Prime Minister's -'speech': on the second' -reading,' that £60,000 is wanted for-the' surveys. The Government, it is clear, has .got -is much , information as it was possible to. collect' for the inauguration of the water scheme, but will not start even. to the extent of cutting one single sod. on anv line until it can place a good working plan in the hands of a contrac-tor;-To suppose that any other coursewould be followed would bo to the commonsense which lias kept the Government where it is for so many years:- -We -may feel sure that technically everything • will be done that - caii he done and ought to be done before the public money is expended. A very much more important question is ; as to the possibility of transmitting power economically along the distances named. The longest distance proposed in the instalment of the tapping process now under recommendation and < brought to third reading, is, as tlie Prime Minister said in his explanation, the 132 miles of the Kaituna scheme lor the supply of: Auckland and its neighborhood. Mr- Hay- did not seem to have-anv doubt on this; subject in his, report of 1906. Mr Black, an outside expert;-declared that this power cannot be supplied under six times the cost of the- steam production, of electric power in Auckland City. In this conflict of evidence Sir Joseph Waid quoted,, several schemes 111 operation m ■ various partsVof -the' world- conveying water-generated electric, energy: longer difetances, and' the quotation seetns : ef--■fectiv.e. Looking' into Mr 'Hancock s made in 1004, we. find ...that he has described 7 the -working of an ,installation an California'.winch ..has worked up to 200 miles with- effect. sufficient to overcome lo'cal steam-generated c9mpetitlon wherever found:. 111 •opposition. ; Tliat is evidence, not to Be set aside, lightly. Sir Joseph, very ■ extensively - into a gooa many ,of -w 6 . jfems on yrhich we hare asked for »n----formation and said it ought' to be supplied to Parliament, mentioned the.: Zambesi scheme stating that the difficulties' -of economic . transmission.: over ; the distance —1350 miles, with necessary deviations," had been lately got over. Mr Black replied that the scheme has been, according to latest information in the technical papers; abandoned as impracticable. We are inclined to believe that Sir "Joseph is light. But the. point is not material,. :hecause. :bp scheme 011 it-he Government ;list is! longer than the 132 miles of the Kaituna. The crucial" question < is; of course, 'of the < 'market. '"There is a povier m »se throughout the Dominion ot 10U,(jUU horses, and the, pow ei in the proposed scheme is 70,000. There is some room here for a sale of power, especially if it be cheaper. That it will be cheaper. is the point to be demonstrated Hut if much of the power does not ,go into consumption there js . the'proposal to use 'the balance,in the .manufacture ot nitrates, and this is hkelj tci be a valuable enterprise. While power is commending' itself to the public ox the Dominion" it can be utilised' profitably instead' of waiting at great cost. On tlie whole, then, the start or the 1 scheme is justifiable. Of coursciit cannot get started all along' the ,hne at once.' Not' fo^the reason assigned' ot the necessity-of--waiting for {lie, result of- experiment, but because the engi r - -peering-'details ■ are-, .not-. available except'. 111 a' few cases. With prudence in, the "start; the case, is one foi .an en'ferprismg risk in the beginning. As ' vtimd "goes'"on, *tj.ie scheme is* sure to 'J give, .in unpioving account of itself