The Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY. MARCH 6, 1903. THE TRAMWAY POWER QUESTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12604, 6 March 1903, Page 4

The Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY. MARCH 6, 1903. THE TRAMWAY POWER QUESTION.

. The tenders v which the City Council lias roceivecl for the proposed Lee r. Stream hydra,ulic works confirmed I'; thb favourable impression Messrs ■ Browne and Stewart's scheme* liad, : made upon the members of that body; for tlic lowest of them do not greatly - exceed the estimate of the cost of the tunnel project with which these gentlemen had furnished the Council. Messrs Browne and Stewart calculated that an expenditure! of £28,0001 would bo required to complete tho i work they recommended. The cityj engineer, on the other hand, placed: the estimate of the cost at nearly i double that sum. It was mainly because ho regarded it as likely to be a. very expensive undertaking that he had "an\ doubt as to its suitability. But it now appears that the probable cost of the work may, in the light of the tenders that have been submitted to the Council, be set down at £32,000. Under the circumstances, the Council had very little hesitation, • at Wednosday evening's meeting, in adopting the advice of tho Tramways Committee that tenders for the construction of the tunnel and for the supply of conduit pipss should be accepted, and in thus, in effect, authorising the commencement of the work. The only alternative proposal to this that was before the Council, so far as the iitilisation of power from ■ the Lee Stream is concerned, was that, which Councillor Gore has steadily advocated, for the j adoption of a, continuous pipe line. But, if the compare- . tivo figurc-s which were quoted by i Councillor Scott may be accepted as , approximately reliable—and Council- ] lor Gore did not endeavour to refute , them,—then, the tunnel scheme is , plainly the preferable. The initial 1 • cost of tlie pipe line scheme would ( ccrtainly be smaller. But that is . almost the only point in which the , comparison is in its favour. The ( tunnel scheme, according to Coun- • cillor Scott's figures, will deliver a , greater amount of power in Dunedin than would be obtainable under the , pips-line project, the maintenance and i renewal charges will be appreciably ( • lighter in its case than they would be ■ if the continuous pipe line proposal , were adopted, and it will be possible , ' to increase the available power at less i 1 than one-half the cost to which the j Council would be put under the pipe i scheme. Councillor Gore regards the s time, that- will be consumed in intrc- j ducing the- Lee Stream power by i means of the tunnel as a. fatal objec- o tion to that plan. And no doubt it ? will be unfortunate if, as he believes, c it will take two and a-half years, under t the system the Council has decided to, J ■employ, to apply water power to the f generation of electricity for the tram- I; way service. But there is no certainty I that the continuous pipe line would be v completed within the twelve months t which he allows for its construction, s And the citizens will at anyrate have s the benefit of an electric service j during the greater part of the period e for which they will have to wait for o the introduction of the water power. I •The Corporation's electrical engineers t ' have, now .that the acquisition of a i j temporary steam plant has been de- x j cided upon, held out the hope that on s j some parts of the tramway system c electric haulage may be commenced in li ' about six months' time. Certainly, c , the Council would seem to contem- s plate at the present time that only 14 i cars shall be, run electrically while I the system of steam generation of, li power is being utilised. But that-1

decision is not irrevocable, and Councillor Gore's belief that the steam plant will have to be increased in order to cope with the traffic that will be created when the elcctric service is instituted will almost- assuredly bo borne out by results. The Tramways Committee should, indeed, if it has not already done so, consider tho wisdom of anticipating events in this particular. Mv Goodman informed the Council a few weeks ago that at a cost of about £2300 an extra unit could be added to the steam plant which is to bo installed. If this were done, he added, the power that would be available would b& sufficient, to enable the Council to run double the number of cars it could otherwise place in commission. Instead of commencing tho service with 14 cars, that being as many as the power obtainable from the steam plant it has ordered will operate, it would he in a position to placa 28 on tho track. It is plain, as Councillor Gore remarks, that 14 cars will not suffice to carry the Dunedin public, and it can scarcely be doubted for a. moment that the profit the Council would derive from the traffic it. would .attract in having double that number of cars running would cover over and over again the interest upon the increased outlay to which it would be put if it added ,111 extra unit to its plant. When by virtue of steam Sfeneralion*"of power a sufficient number of cars are operated to satisfy reasonably well the requirements of tlie place the citizens will reconcilcf,themselves to the delay that will occur before water power can be introduced. The difference in favour of n. pipe line scheme between the time at which water power might be .made available through (he adoption of it and that at which it may bo brought in by the tunnel project will then, in face of tho advantages the latter plan possesses, be felt to be quite a bagatelle. Of the two proposals that were before the Council tho tunnel scheme will, therefore, notwithstanding the drawback entailed in the length of time that will be occupied in its completion, be generally held to bo the more advantageous. But there must still lurk in the minds of ratepayers an uneasy suspicion that the Council has taken too much for granted as to the quantity of power obtainable from the Lee Stream. The gainings that have been secured cannot possibly be accepted as conclusive evidence that a. minimum flow of 15 heads—that being the basis upon which Councillor Scott's calculations .are founded—can be depended ( upon.. Thev have not heen conducted over a sufficiently extended term, and the period during which they havo been taken has not been an unfavourable one. There is, under the circumstances, no absolute warrant for the assumption that the Lee as a source of supply will be sufficiently reliable to meet the needs of the city. For that reason it is to be regretted that councillors have pinned their faith so completely to it as most of them have done and that they have ignored other possible sources of supply, The communication from the Waipori Falls Electric Power Company which was read at the meeting of the Council on Wednesday evening now definitely offers the city a liberal supply of water on terms that on the surface read distinctly well, and, though it is a pity that thei proposal was not made at an earlier date, for it seems doubtful whether it can now be entertained, it is to be hoped that the Tramways i Committee, to which the company's letter has baen referred, will give the ' question its earnest consideration, and i report fully to tho Council as to what, from the-Corporation standpoint-, the precise effect of the acceptance of the offer would be. ,- ! .■ 1 •