WASTE POWER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19842, 10 January 1920, Page 8

WASTE POWER.

The French Government is planning to carry out experiments on the north coast of Brittany, to see whether tide power cannot he utilised to make good the shortage of coal in Franco (says an American paper). The shortage of coal is expected to last for a longtime; but even at that it is to ho doubted whether experiments now begun will do much to bring relief from present conditions. Yet the experiments are worth trying. The idea of using the tide for power is not new. Inventors have been working at the problem steadily; but tide power has not yet driven out other power. Tide mills were common in the old days along the coast. But they were har'd on the men, whose hours of work differed day hy day, and the tide mills were discarded for steam mills whenever possible. There is a great deal of waste power in the world. We are not using water power as we should; in truth we arc only beginning to use it. Most of the wind power goes similarly to waste, rlie.ro are still other sources of power which wo do not draw upon Hence the news that a great governl me,it is looking into the possibility of using one lost form of motion is* interesting.