AT MOUNT COOK

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 85, 5 July 1928, Page 5

AT MOUNT COOK

J NTERESTING PH OTO GRAPHS, During His visit to Mount Cook Hermitage, whore lie was engaged in. erecting a , Diesel electrical generating plant, Mr Peter Aitken, of Stratford, secured a splendid series of photogiaplis of the job lie was on and of the locality generally. The difficulties of' the job are indicated by a, view which shows the hefivy pieces of the machinery dump, ed all over the place, some „f it having to be shifted up bank of shingle eleven feet high. One view has a fine background of high mountains. Another shows a tractor at work pulling the heavy cylinders out of the scrub, where they were dumped. A pretty scene i s a snap of Mount Cook taken from the top of the frame of the building in which the machine Was housed. Another photograph includes Mr R. Dingwall, an old Stratford resident, who was helping on the job. Other views show the moraine, the •Hermitage backed by Mt. Sefton and the Stocking Glacier. The latter is the form of a lady’s stocking,, the five toes being clearly shown.

VAST TUSSOCK PLAIN. One of the pictures, showing the building nearing completion, shows also the tarpaulins which were used to cover the machine before the building was finished. An interesting view is that of the vast tussock plain behind the Hermitage, in the midst of which Appea rs, a lull do tiled in yerdure, which, Mr Aitken says, lias the appearance of a green island; standing in a sflU. A photograph was taken of a party qf .tourists leaving the Hermitage, and Mr Aitken found it later that the group included a very old friend of Ids, a resident of dnvercargill. A square' frame was erected for use as a derrick. • A 24- : feet beam was placed on top of this, to which was attached the (Mon lifting tackle. On going to the job one morning after a particularly windy niglit, Mr Aitken found tlifit the beam and the tackle liad heeiij dislodged by the wind. The station for the production of hydro-electricity is a very up-to-date affair. The water i s caught iii a. clam 500 feet above the power-house, and the overflow, down an almost perpendicular cliff, Homs a gband sight. The supply of water to the Felton wheel is automatically governed, the amount of water being increased or decreased as required. DISSOLVED IN SPRAY.

Just behind the power-house is a perpendicular cliff. On a rainy day the cliff is lined! with numerous watercourses, and in places where the wind is felt the water', is caught up and dissolved ini fine spray, the effect to a spectator being very striking. A further section of the photographs shows scenes on the trip from Mt. Cook to Timaru, The first stop is at the hotel at Lake Fukaki, which is probably fifty miles from the nearest house. At this point the _ Waitaki River, the water of which is cream coloured, leaves the lake. Lower down the Wbitaki River the Government i s installing a, hydro-elec, trie plant which will connect the present Christchurch and Dunedin stations. The next stop is at the hote at Lake #*capo, which is half-way on the jour** to Timaru. The water of this lake is blue—as if it had been treated with the blue-bag. The view of the hotel shows the high Mackenzie country in the background At Burke’s Pass the high wind is troublesome. Buses have been blown from the road by the wind, and pmes planted beside the road to act as breakwind, are now just beginning make headway. A photograph shows the main street at Fairhe, the end of the railway from Timaru, and the series concludes with views of Aitken’s mother s house at ham. _