HYDRO=ELECTRIC SCHEMES

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1930, Page 9

HYDRO=ELECTRIC SCHEMES

MANGAMAHOE DAM WORK

INSPECTION BY SWEDISH EXPERT

PROFESSOR HORNELL’S OPINIONS.

The eminent Swedish expert on hydro-electric schemes, Professor P. G. Hornell, and • a civil engineering collea 'me, Mr. P. W. Werner, arrived at New Plymouth yesterday afternoon at the request of the New Plymouth Borough Council, and will to-day inspect the Mangamahoe dam, a vital part of the New Plymouth electricity scheme. Their report to Parliament on the Arapuni hydro-electric works was published yesterday. In company with members of the Borough Council, the borough engineer (Mr. C. Clarke) and other officers Professor Hornell and Mr. Werner will visit the dam early this morning and will later report concerning it to the council. The two experts will leave New Plymouth for the south this afternoon. They may visit the South Island again, but as they have not been commissioned yet to report upon any other. hydro-electric undertakings in the Dominion they expect to return to Sweden within a few “There are very great possibilities for the development of water power in New Zealand,” Professor Hornell said to a Daily News reporter last night. “If we had the same possibilities in Sweden as you have here we would do our very best to make use of them. He went on to state that New Zealand rivers had a greater fall of water usually than those in Sweden, where small heads of water with greater quantities were the rule. The work involved in hydro-electric construction works in Sweden was consequently more costly in proportion than in New Zealand. They had the advantage of better geological conditions in Sweden. The hardness of the rock foundations removed practically all risk of slips and erosion and they were virtually immune from the risk of earthquake damage. As he has stated in his published report to Parliament, Professor Hornell is satisfied with the general principle of the Arapuni scheme, subject to the recommendations he has made. He is not yet acquainted with the conditions obtaining at the Mangamahoe dam and was unable to make any comment upon that point. He has generally confirmed the action of the various authorities in Embarking upon a series of schemes to utilise the water power available in the Dominion.

As a geologist the professor was interested in that aspect of the search for oil jn the districts around New Plymouth. He smilingly remarked that the pioneers ‘of hydro-electric schemes and in the search for oil had nothing to fear from each other in a country like New Zealand. 9 As a boon to mankind the recent development of electric power must continue, he agreed, and was being widely appreciated.