THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1927. THE WAIPORI DAM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20222, 7 October 1927, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1927. THE WAIPORI DAM.

In the reports that have been published relating to the Waipori enterprise the public has a sufficiency of material for its information upon the salient points of the question upon which the C’-ty Council has now to come to ,a decision. The Council has either to face the construction of a new dam, 110 ft in height, at an estimated cost of £226,000 or find some alternative scheme to meet its requirements. The electrical engineer has indicated what these alternatives are, involving in each case the installation of an extensive plant in the city, but he makes it clear that in his own opinion the erection of a new dam at Waipori would be the sounder plan. A point which is not likely to escape the notice of the consuming public is that the charges for electricity would have to be increased in the event of any scheme for the installation of a subsidiary plant in the city being adopted, whereas they can probably be kept at their present level if the considerable outlay that is inevitable in any case is concentrated on Waipori. In face of the recent report of the Eugineer-in-Chief the City Council has had to regard as untenable the idea of raising the present dam to the height necessary to conserve the water required to meet the increasing demand for electricity. The light that is now thrown in the various reports upon all the circumstances that have to be taken into consideration seems to strengthen the conclusion that the construction of a new dam at Waipori must be regarded by the Council as a work of immediate necessity. Certainly, an expenditure of £226,000 upon a new dam will increase very considerably the capital cost of the Waipori undertaking, and it is, of course, unfortunate that this cost will be supplementary to what has been already spent upon the dam which will eventually be submerged, and perhaps in the course of time forgotten altogether. But against portion of the cost of the new dam may at least be balanced that which would have been entailed in raising the present structure, as originally intended, had that been feasible. A very useful epitome of the engineering conclusions and a valuable summarisation of the financial and economic phases of the proposal to spend close upon a quarter of a million of money on the new dam at Waipori is contained in the report prepared by the Town Clerk. A very weighty factor in relation to the development of the Waipori scheme is the steady increase from year to year, averaging 15 per cent., in the demand for electricity. The revenue from the Waipori undertaking last year amounted to over £161,000, and Mr Lewin considers it a reasonable assumption that, by the time the full effect of the yearly charges on the proposed expenditure on the dam have shown themselves in the revenue account, the total income of the Electric Power and Lighting Department will be in the vicinity of £200,000 a year. And he offers the opinion that the prospective outlay now confronting the city will not place on the Waipori enterprise an unduly heavy burden through the increase in the capital charges. This is, after all, the paramount consideration. The Waipori scheme has been very profitable, and its profit-earning capacity must suffer by reason of the increased capitalisation in view. But the assurance that Waipori can stand the test, and that without any apparent necessity for increased charges upon consumers of electricity, should be no small consolation to the citizens, as well as a fortification of their faith in one of the most important muncipal enterprises of the city. The Town Clerk introduces another important consideration when he emphasises the need for protection, such as a new dam will provide, against the danger of serious disaster by flood to the electrical venture in which the city has made such a heavy investment. In a sentence, Mr Lewin regards the proposed expenditure on the dam as within the financial capacity of the Waipori venture, points out that part of the expenditure at least may be viewed as insurance in the essential safeguarding of present assets, and seems to clinch the argument in the statement that no certain or less costly method has been put forward for meeting satisfactorily the growing demand for electricity. In view of such considerations and of all the circumstances and requirements of the situation as they have been traversed, the direction of the Council’s decision on the question now before it can hardly be in doubt.