DOUBTFUL SOUND PROJECT

Southland Times, Issue 25703, 12 July 1943, Page 4

DOUBTFUL SOUND PROJECT

REPORT ON ELECTRIC SCHEME A model village in Doubtful Sound to accommodate the 2000 persons needed to work the plant is visualized in the report on the Manapouri-Deep Cove hydro-electric project—first mooted in 1926, when New Zealand Sounds Hydroelectric Concessions, Ltd., was formed — now released. The company, formed among more than 100 residents of New Zealand, obtained a licence from the New Zealand Government to harness 200,000 horse-power (continuous) of electrical energy, the method being to bore a 6A-mile tunnel from the western arm of Lake Manapouri to Deep Cove, in Doubtful Sound, where the power station would be situated. The hydro-electric portion of the project is estimated to cost about £4,000,000, the report states, and the energy would be used for the production of commodities for which cheap power is essential and the minimum of labour is required, and the resultant products of which are high in price and in keen demand throughout the world. The full schedule of these commodities covers about 40 electrochemical and electro-metallurgical items. The obtaining of the raw materials for these products, it _is claimed, would present no difficulties. Among the items mentioned are aluminium, which apart from the present war demand, wfll be extensively used, with its alloys, for countless purposes after the war, and nitrates, which are the basis of high explosives and are also in constant and growing demand as an agricultural fertilizer. CHEAPEST IN WORLD The project has been fully proved, about £17,000 having been spent on reports and plans, and it is claimed that it would be the cheapest power project on a seaboard in the world. Tire site for the works is 21 miles from the coast. In addition to the power plant, it is proposed to establish large industrial plants as well as a model village with accommodation for about 2000 people, and to construct wharves and other facilities. It is estimated that the total capital required would be £8,500,000, and this outlay, it is estimated, would produce an annual net profit of £2,500,000. The New Zealand company on three occasions sent Sir Douglas Mawson to Britain to establish the enterprise, and a world-renowned engineer reported on it as a “very sound power project.” Had the financial crash of 1930 not occurred in Britain and the United States, it is believed that the enterprise would have been established. Since then the company, which has asked no subsidy, bonus, or protection from the Government, has been prepared to continue its endeavours to establish the industry, but, the report continues, with the advent of the Labout Government in 1935, it was denied a renewal of its licence, without which nothing could be done abroad. Repeated requests have been made to the Government to allow it to continue the pioneering work, but without result. The support of the chambers of commerce is now being sought, so that the company may be allowed to resume its efforts.