ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

Timaru Herald, Volume CVII, Issue 16447, 19 January 1918, Page 7

ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

FOR SOUTH CANTERBURY. DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS. PROMISE REAFFIRMED. Special to the "Herald." .WELLINGTON, Jan. 18. For some time the people of South Canterbury have been urging that the Government sUould go on with -the projected extension of the Lake Coleridge hytiro-electrio scheme to supply current to their towns and country districts, and especially to the town of Timaru. Recently a conference of representatives of local bodies from the Rakaia to Waimato was held in Timaru, at which it was decided to wait as a deputation upon members of the Ministry. This deputation came to Wellington to-day, and they were heard by the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Minister of Publio Works. Mr Craigie, Member for Timaru, introduced the deputation. The several speakers all urged that there was need for cheap electric power in their districts, for use in industries and for labour-saving machinery in rural pursuits. ■ Mr Craigie and. othersi pointed out to the Government that at the time the Coleridge scheme was embarked upon a promise was made that the scheme would be for the whole of Canterbury, and not simply for the Christchurch neighbourhood, and 'that as soon as possible after the establishment of the' scheme the lines would he led down to Timaru. The South Canterbury people did not grudge advantages to other parts of the country, but they thought that as the promise had been given that the Coleridge power should be brought down to Timaru, this promise should he fulfilled before other schemes were embarked upon. MINISTER OF. PUBLIC WORKS. Sir W. Fraser, Minister of Public Works, said he wished to say to the deputation at the outset thafi" but for the war' the line would have'been taken down to Timaru long ago. The I work had been stopped for a dozen | reasons, but the principal one wao that it was impossible at the praseni time to get any wire or any transformers. Ho would not refer to tho en< rl mous importance of the development of hydro-electric power to this roaitry, because he believed that ivorybody was agreed upon it. He would draw" attention to the reasons why Christchurch was chosen as the place in which this power should be first tried. At tho time it was first mooted Sir Joseph Ward brought down a scheme for the establishment of f-ve separate works, for five localities, and the estimated cost was five millions. Parliament discussed the matter, and it was then considered that as this was more or less an experiment it would be wise to go on with. Christchurch first, as Lake Coleridge was a place from which the power could be token easily. Then, having hrought the power into Christchurch, the Government was anxious to know how much it was going to benefit the people, Low much it would be used by them, and. how much it would cost to take the power as far afield as Timaru. In relation to the amount of revenue the Government would be likely to derive from it in the country districts, no one could gauge how much the power was going to bo used throughout tho Dominion, but it was quite true that in Christchurch the demand was almost exceeding ihe supply, and he believed that this would be tho experience wherever power was made available. The people of South Canterbury need not fear that the Government would spend all the money in increasing the facilities round about. Christchurch, to the prejudice of Timaru. He would give the assurance that as soon as the wire was available—and not less than 300 miles of wire would be required—the power would be hxought to Timaru. For the/ present the only preparation he could make for that time would be in procuring poles to carry the line. He did not think they would erect the poles at once, because it might not be advisable to do this work too much in advance of the rest. Thirteen poles would be needed to the mile, and the total number of poles required would be about 1250. If any members cf the deputation knew anything about getting hardwood poles from Australia they would know that this represented a considerable undertaking. Ho had been advised against the use of concrete poles, for the reason that they did not bear lateral strains such as would be imposed by road accidents, collisions and so on, so well as hardwood poles.

CAUTION AGAINST ANTAGONISM. Referring to the claim made for preference for South Canterbury over all the rest of the Dominion. Sir "W. Fraser said he did not think it was wise for the people to set the rest of the Dominion against them by asking that no other work should bo started ■until this thing was done; but th* work done "at other places would be of a totally different character. There were no head works to be erected for Timaru, and in all other places the first work would bo the construtrtion of headworks. The thing would have ro receive the assent of Parliament, and if the Timaru people succeeded in setting the rest of the country against themselves Parliament might not "be disposed to agree to their proposals. Even the Government might not be able to help them. His own idea was that as soon as possible Timaru sluonld be connected np the Lake Coleridge scheme. A'suggestion was made that the Government had been employing engineers on the surveys of other lines in preference to this South Canterbury line, but the 5311t.11 Cantorbury line did not need surveyinsr. The line would follow roads, whereas in the Auckland and Wellington schemes surveys were necessary to discover routos for the lines.

The estimated 9ost of taking the line to Timaru was £60,000. At every place at which the current would V tapped it would have to he broken down by transformers and distributed. The cost of these transformers and distribution lines wouH be £46.000, birb the whole of this latter cost would nob have to be incurred at once. THE FINANCIAL ASPECT. Sir Joseph Ward referred to th« promises of which the Government had been reminded. It was true that the promise had been made, in the form mentioned, but the war had come along since then, and the war had altered the srpect of everything in this country. ?vo work of this kind could be earned on until the war was over The Gcveirnment could not obtain the material for it, for love or money For the last twelve months the Telecranh Department had been declining applications for telephones by ordinarv subscribers, although m ordinarv circumstances it would be sound business to