AMERICAN ENGINEERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16366, 3 March 1921, Page 5

AMERICAN ENGINEERS.

EYES ON NEW ZE ALAND. [From Our Correspondent.} WELLINGTON, March 2. Several months ago, when the Minister of Public Works outlined the waterpower resources of the Dominion, he used some phrases about millions which have evidently attracted the attention of American engineers- One of their technical publications got hold of a story about electrical developments in New Zealand on which millions were to be spent instantly—and the English sterling translated into dollars looked prodigious. The result has been a veritable flood of applications front American electrical engineers for positions under the New Zealand Government. The Prime Minister this week referred the three hundredth application to the Chief Electrical Engineer, who does not . want them, and will doubtless take some steps to remove the misapprehension. This is a sample of how New Zealand news is dressed up for American consumption in a magazine of recent date circulating among the professional classes: “In all New Zealand there is not a single millionaire, and there are | no paupers. There are no slums in her cities, but she has some labour troubles, especially among miners, and is experiencing a shortage of coal. The Government therefore has determined to develop the hydro-electric resources of the country as a source of power. For this purpose it announced that it would issue a loan providing for compulsory subscription equal to one calculated, will furnish the capital necessary to begin the development of i her water power.”