THE AGE OF WATER POWER.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11658, 13 June 1912, Page 2

THE AGE OF WATER POWER.

PROGRESS IN AMERICA. POWER FOR THE TRAMCARS. A new era in the utilisation of water power is beginning in America. The hydro-electric companies in America at the present day are to be numbered by hundreds, and it is hard to point to a ringle instance, when competent engineers have been engaged to report upon the scheme, where success of a striking character has not resulted. It is not alone in coal-less or oil-less regions that a development in this new field of engineering activity is taking place. Even where plentiful supplies of coal exist hydro-electric power has driven its dirty competitor from the field on account of its superior cleanness, cheapness, reliability. and freedom from interruption. How great its advantages are is abundantly provtd by the fact- that several coal mines (such as" the Pocahontas) are now using hydro-electric power to operate their hauling" and pumping plants. IMPETUS TO INDUSTRY. ' Wherever power plants of this kind an to be found in America, somewhere in their radius of distribution will be found also numbers cf new industries springing up which would never have been cstabLshed but for the fact that a constant supply of cheap power was ready -to hand. For even where coal exists it must be remembered that it is not only the mining of it that requires manual labour. Its carriage and distribution need the services of a large number of men, so that a strike not only of miners, but also of transportation workers, can -entirely disorganize the supply. Hydro-electric power, en the contrary, requires only a very few men to watch the turbines and dynamos, and once generated the current flows of its own volition through the distributing channels provided, and reaches the consumer at a price which does not have to bear the cos: of carriage from the source of .-apply, except for "the interest on the capita! cost of the distributing system. Bearing in mind these factors, it is obviously merely stating a self-evident fact to assert that the future, ahead of well-considered hydroelectric enterprises in America contains pr-tspects which few industrial undertakings i-sn look forward to.

CANADIAN EXAMPLE. The experience of the British Columbia Electric Railway Company, which, in addition to generating electricity from water power to operate its electric traction system 185 niiies in extent in the neighbourhood of Vancouver. aLso .supplies private consumers, and provides the city of Victoria (population 45,C03! with lirh> ir.L' and power current, is an instance of ii:e :npid growth of enterprises of this c h:;•••;•;i. r. Last ysar this company ccmphre.l a iaige plant on the Jordan River, ca, -.i!-!e ■ f ■■■:■ liverir.g 6000 h.ij. So greatly had '.!•,• demand for power developed that alnmst befeve tills unit was completed arrange-mc-rrs were made io 1 : the installation of another sot cf turbines and dynamos cf equal capacity. This is almost the uulv-t----eai experience. The success attending the completion of a hydro-elo.-tric plant m so if.pid that cxtens oil-.; have to be put in hand very soon afi-: 1 - the delivery of power has been made. In Eastern Canada, n.-lc-s than in British Columbia, the results achieved are most- striking. Thus the Montreal Street Railway and the Montreal Light, Hsni, and Power Company operate 252 miles of electric tramway in the city and adjacent districts, besides powjr and gas. Most of this electrical energy is furnished by the Shawinigan Water and Power Company, the source of supply being the- falls on the St. Maurice River, midway between Montreal and Quebec. Not only Montreal, but Quebec, Three Rivers, joiiette, Sore), and Thetford derive much of their supplies of electrical energy from these falls. Another extensive power plant of recent completion is the-Kakabeka Falls generating station, of the Kaministiquia Power Company, which supplies Port Arthur and Fort William, at the head of Lake Superior—:the ports through which the bulk" of the Western wheat crop pa.-scs on its way to the markets of Eastern Canada, the United States, and Europe.

LIGHT AND POWER. Turning to the United States, the Mississippi- River Power Company is _engaged in building a dam at the Des Moines itapids, near Koekuk, lowa, which, when complete, will enable the company to furnish 200,000-h.p. to a thickly populated portion of the middle west. Large quantities of power have already been applied for. and the completion of the undertak- •:!! is bound to witness the development of "a number of thriving industries which could never have been established without the certainty of being able to derive the necessary electric energy to operate their plant. In Mexico several large companies are now in operation. The Mexico Tramways Company operates 171 miles of l.ne in the Federal district, which has a population of 800.000, and an afiihaWl concern —the Mexican. Light and Power Company —supplies it with power, and distributes light and power throughout the capital and the surrounding district. Further north the Mexican Northern Power Company, taking its energy from the Conchas River, will supply it over the greater part of the State of Chihuahua, in which are to be found a number of prosperous copper and silver mines. BIG UNDERTAKING'S. On the' South American continent the Jiio de Janeiro Tramway. Light, and Power Company cither owns or controls sources of hvdro-eiectric supply which are capable of furnishing 200,000' h.p. This company operates 213 miles of electric tramway, and supplies power and light to the entire city, besides working the telephone system, and gas plant. The town of Sao Paulo, with a population of over 300.000, is similarly served by the Sao Paulo Tramway. Light, and Power Company, which opeuuts 105 miles of electric tramways in the town and suburbs. The foregoing are only a few instances jf the development which has taken place

in this field. The' uniform success that In? resulted fiom their operations has abundantly fulfilled, and in most cases ex<_:.iled. fxpectatinns. in these circumstances it is _ not surprising that an inercajing amount of public attention is being directed towards this class of undertaking, and a survey of the position of the common stocks of the principal companies now at work or about to commence- operating, offers a. sufficient explanation of this attitude on the part of in-ic-stors.