WATER POWER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14327, 18 October 1910, Page 3

WATER POWER.

IRE GOVERNMENTS SCHEMES. A ' WILD AND RECKLESS" TEXTURE. The Government's water-power ; po.sals are criticised by Mr Frederick I Mack, A.M. iiist., C.K., consulting engineer to tlie "Wailii C'uldimning Company, in an article* contributed to tlio '''Evening l'ost," AVellmgton. Mr Black begins by saying:— "There should be joy in several districts of the country to-day. "Waterpower schemes are being handed out for ihe mere asking indeed, for some of them no one has dreamed of asking, yet there they are. Nobody knows what they will ultimately cost, nobody know 3 what will be done with them, and. nobody—or almost nobody—c-aros. The main, thing is that nearly two r ud a quarter million sovereigns are down on tlie list to be Mr Mack says ho expected thus the Government would select one or two at most of u-.a more iavonrable-loolcing schemes, and demonstrate their faith iu their policy, but ilim programme actually presented is absolutely impracticable commercially. and is "the wildest and no.-t reck Ic-s.s venture evc-r suggested in this litiK? country." Mr .Black proceeds:— ;; lfc -car- civ aitpears worth while to criticise the Government schemes, but still there are some! lending facts worth consideration, by those people who think tli.-ir .-,u industrial and domestic niiHenium is. cln,er ill hand than the next eie< tiou. To tabulate ilie .-cheines first. thev a:e :is follow =:— Scheme. power. Cost.

Mutt 1(I.(K ii.) 30iU)!)u Lake Coleridge ... KMKIO li7<)JKK) Teviot • Kl.Oilil ycJIOOl) iiiike Mauroto ... U•:i.<)!):) :-s."iiu!!';) Makuri (i.d'V) •JOii.'.iOO Kaituna ... 32(0 I'M Kuniara ... 3.<K)O 7o.n<K) Wairua Falls- ... 3.01)0 lOll'.OOt) Waikaremoana ... "Supplying the two approximate figures omitted, the totals mm- lie stated as 72,000 h.p. and Cl',23u.o'io cost. it is unnecessary to en(|inre whether the horse-powers are those ;.t the rivers or after about 40 per cent, has been lost in transmitting to Hie towns; the schemes aro so palpably ridiculous in nearly every instance, that it doesn't really matter at whicii end the power is calculated. Mr Black criticise? severally the schemes in he put in hand tirs't. am! except for the Hutt ami I,ake Coleridge schemes, he condemns tlicii utterly. Kogarding these exceptions he says:—"The Hutt and Lake Coleridge schemes may or may not he justifiable. _ No_man can "tell whether there is justification for investing over half a million in these two installations until an exhaustive investigation has been made of the markets ill each case. At present no one knows at what price energy could he delivered in W ollington and Christchurch and then reticulated to the consumer. It is an absurd proceeding to guess 2<l p<?r unitj and_ then contrast, that figure with the id now charged hy the A Veiling ton. City Council. Granting; that the Council s charge is too high (and I believe it is) to encourage the fullest use of its current, no water-power, scheme could possibly supply the consumer in domestic quantities at anvthing like the wholesale rate quoted ),- the Prime Minister, unless at a heavv loss to the State. . The Teviot. scheme lias no market of size m sight, except Bunedin, and it can only secure that city hy closing !.o« - n the existing Waipori livdro undertaking, which itself is not yet a glittering financial success. I cannot pretend to show here even a tonth part of the absurdities involves m thesa schemes. The audacity of tlio Government policy would : staggering to both engineers and ! business men who aro conversant with j the conditions of such catcrjii-isos. if it I wefe seriously intended to attempt to | carry it out. The Minister of Public : \\ orks is re port gd as saving that the I nited Suites has 31 million h.p. ;I1 ute. Mr 11. T. Pnrshall, a consulting ongmear or European suited in the ilines" so recem.ly as «rd August Ipse,, on his return from a visit to the. States, thnt tl, e development in that country is estimated at million h.p. If the Ministers ;• :ews on other aspects of this sub--5!l 3re * cr , mcd «n ,a proportionate s-al.. and ho proeeecs to give effect to them, them will he some rcmark..Diy large chickens coming home f or rowftma accommodation before lonrr. ' to conclude, the following extract from a recent- number of s The Times' Engineering supplement is not- without interest for New Zealand"The iiritcsh Commercial Attache at Yokohama renorts that considerable activiv prevailed m Japan during ] ; , st year in connection with water-pov.-er schemes. Although in his opinion, .Japmi is lavouraoiy situated in resncct to the quantity of water-power which is availnole, nevertheless only ono tavge hy-rti'o-c.lccir,e undertaking seems to he meeting with success. and that is situated on the Tjii HiVer.' The TJii Kircr scheme supplies the cifv of Usn - s ' "';V s populntioon i.s tho Zealand " ° f lhe V '" slC ' !o ° f New