TEKAPO POWER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 11 June 1924, Page 7

TEKAPO POWER.

QUESTION OF INVESTIGATION

A REPORT TO RE OBTAINED

At yesterday's meeting of the South Canterbury Power Board, the matter or developing power irom Lake leKapo was again discussed. Mr (J. E. Kerr proposed ; “that in view of the fact that the single transmission line from Coleridge is unreliable, and that the plant at Lake Coleridge is overloaded; and it being useless to make further demands on this source ot supply, it is desirable that the Power Board should immediately investigate the Lake Tekapo scheme, with a view to installing a powoi plant there to meet the demands and aspirations of botli town and

country.”Mr Kerr said he had always been of the opinion that there should be an investigation of Lake Tekapo as a source of electric power. He had absolutely no faith in Coleridge, and considered that their only hope Jay in developing Tekapo. j Coleridge had proved a dismal failure. The Power Board had been in existence about twenty mouths,' and so lar it had only wasted time and money. It had nothing to show for its labours, but trouble. The Board had not/ justified its existence, and liad not carried out the wishes of those, who had elected it. Coleridge was overloaded, and no provision was made for spare generating sets; the whole plant was now in operation, and there was nothing in the shape of a stand-by generator. The Christchurch City Council was proposing to put in a stand-by plant of its own. and all sorts of restrictions were being imposed on the people of Christchurch. Coleridge would never be any use to South Canterbury, as North Canterbury would require all the power that it could produce. He had frequently been twitted with allegations that his figures for the devel opment of Tekapo were too low, but Mr James Wilson had just got an estimate of the 1 cost from an expert, whose figures were well below those which he (the speaker) had quoted. The Board must get busy, or South Canterbury would be left: Tekapo should bo' investigated at the earliest possible moment, as it was evident- that South Canterbury must have, a scheme of its own.

THE MOTION SECONDED.

IMr J. R. Bruce, in seconding tho motion, said that he had always been a strong believer in Tekapo. Coleridge was overloaded and already they were in difficulty. If they were in difficulty now, what wdfikl the position be in j. 925 and 1926?-The Milling Company had -installed _ a 150 ' li.p. plant hero, and already it was “in the soup.” Coleridge was absolutely unreliable, and the best thing to do was to go’ for Tekapo. Ho was confident that the Tekapo schema could be secured for a quarter of a million pounds. At Nelson . the people thought it would, take them two years to get 800 consumers, hut they actually got them within seven months. It would be the same with Tekapo; as soon as the power was available, there would be an ever-growing demand for hoped the Board would .investigate Tekapo at once, as then both Geraldine and Waimate, as well the rest of tho district,.. would get., a • mliablo supply of power. >lt was clear that South Canterbury was not going to get the - power which had been promised from Coleridge. Mr J. Anstey said that long before the formation of the Power Board, he had no faith in Coleridge, and he had none to-day. Coleridge had been built up on wrong hues, and would nevei bo satisfactory. Messrs Kerr and Bruce said “develop Tekapo, but thev did not say where the means were to come from. Had the latepayers of Timaru not turned down the loan proposals, there would have been money ior the investigation of Itkapo, hut as it was there was none, and it would- bo unfair to ask tho country districts to bear the cost. Borne figures had recently been published m the “Herald” by an anonymous expert, as to the cost ol the Tekapo sehemo. These were very misleading. This so-called expert estimated tho cost of the transmission line at £83,000, for 130 . miles II that estimate were correct, the tekapo transmission line would be the cheapest in the world. Then, too, tho expert had made numerous omissions, rle provided for no transformer station Timaru, and thus cut down his estimate to the extent of £20,000. And ho had entirely omitted to provide for a sum of £50,000, the cost of tno Board taking over the Coleridge transmission line from Ashburton to li mam, ns the Department said tho Board must do before a license to develop Tekapo would bo gianted. Ho had discussed the Tekapo scheme with four experts, and they ali esti mated the cost at about more than the anonymous expci t ic iC Mr 1 Borneo said tho expert’s cstimaio was £220,000. and if they added £3O, 000 on to that, they would ha\c lekapo for £250,000; GETTING THE MONEY;

Mr G. J. Wallace supported the motion. He had very little confidence m Coleridge. During the coming two years, ihev would he up against great difficulty. ‘ The need for oUO li.p. lu sight in South Canterbury, and there was not much chance of getting that from Coleridge. He had \ci> grave doubts whether they would e\oi develop 21,000 or 25,000 h.p. at Colcridge. lie would like to see K-kepo reported on, in order to learn "lia ,5000 h.p. from that source would cost. He believed that the oeal bodies of South Canterbury would willingly find the money to pay for a report. Mr W. E. Mills, also supported the motion. The Board, he said had not the confidence of the majority of the ratopavers of South Canterbury, and it was" “up to” members to do something further. As for 1 bo cost ol securing a report; the Board lmd rating powers, and they could get. the money that way. He did not think tho ratepayers would object. A report would not cost anything like the .CSOOD previously suggested, Mr J South also favoured the motion, hut said that they should got an undertaking from tho Government that they would bo allowed to develop

Tekapo (supposing the report to ho favourable ) ■ uelore tney spent any money' ou a report. Mr Kerr; “\»o nave the Govern mein s consent already.'’ Mr Boutti : “No; Lne promise says ‘wlien .suitable.’ and tile Government will decide ’wlien suitable’ is. 1 lie trouble with Coleridge power at present is caused through lauily insulators, and they shouiu not blame the power on account ol a rotten Jmc.” Mr C. J. Talbot said it was scarcely fair to insinuate that a majority ol members of the Board were opposed to Tekapo ; lie had always been m favour of investigating that source of supply, but the Department had pushed tho Coleridge line down here, and had practically forced them to take that power which, under the circumstances, was the right tiling to do. Tie still favoured an investigation of the Tekapo scheme, but Mr Kerr’s motion did not provide for ways and means. He would want to know where the money’ was to come from, before ho would vote for the motion. He liad a responsibility' to the jieople of Mackenzie County, and he felt that it would be unfair to tax them any further for something, from which they were not likely to get any benefit —at least for a great many years. It the Board proposed to strike a rate there would be a lot of opposition. It was only in a spirit of loyalty to tho rest of South Canterbury that Mackenzie joined the Rower Board, and that spirit should be respected. Ho would not like to see the district committed to an unknown sum for the investigation of 'Tekapo, and thought that the motion should be amended.

A REPORT OFFERED. Mr J. Anstey said that Mr 11. F. Toogood, consulting engineer, of Wellington, would give them a report for a very’ small sum. The chairman (Mr J. Kennedy) said they, should first send a deputation to Wellington to ascertain whether a license to develop Tekapo would be given them. And if they got a .satisfactory reply’ they’ should tnen endeavour to make arrangements whereby they could pay up to say £2OO for a report. Mr Talbot said he would support tho motion if a limit of £2OO were fixed tor a report. At this stage Mr J. R. Templin (consulting engineer) offered to supply a report which would cost the Board nothing, if the scheme tvero gone on with, and 175 guineas, if it were not gone one with. (Details concerning the oiler were taken in committee j. Mr Kerr said that it would be unfair on the part of the Department to make tho Board pay for the transmission line between Ashburton and 'Timaru, as it was intended to take that line to Wayion, and it formed part of the Dominion scheme. And, if, as suggested, it was the intention of the Department to erect a second transmission line to Timaru, they should most certainly’ object to paying for that. If they' chose they could get in touch with Mr Boving, who would tell them what Tekapo would cost,' or they could get an expert who' was at present in Tasmania, to report. He did not wish to limit the cost to any particular sum; the matter was too important for that. Mr Talbot moved that the motion he amended so as to limit the cost of a report on Tekapo to £250; to pro- ■ vide that before anything else is done, a deputation should go to Wellington to get permission to develop Tekapo; and that if this is given, Mr Templin’,s offer to supply a report bo accepted. In its amended form the motion was carried by 5 to 4, the voting being as follows: For: Tho chairman, and Messrs Talbot, South, Fitch and Anstey. Against: Messrs Bruce, Kerr, Mills and "Wallace.