POWER TURNED ON AT WAITAKI

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20447, 27 October 1934, Page 11

POWER TURNED ON AT WAITAKI

OFFICIAL OPENING.

Impressive and Colourful Ceremony in Power House. LORD BLEDISLOE STARTS TURBINE. “ May It Usher In New Era of Prosperity and Progress.” (Special to the “ Star.”) WAITAKI HYDRO, October 27. COMPLETING the chain of national hydro-electric works in the Dominion, the Waitaki power station was officially opened to-day by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, who started one of the giant turbines driving the generator, which immediately supplied electricity to the whole of Canlerbuiy and North Otago. Weather conditions were perfect, and the official ceremony was on a scale worthy of an occasion of such national importance. A special train from Christchurch, making a remarkably ciuick run with stops only at the most important stations, conveved the official party and guests to the works, and other special trains from Christchurch and Dunedin carried numbers of the public. . On the arrival of the official train, 200 guests, including a large number of Members of Parliament and representatives of power supply authorities in Canterbury and North Otago were entertained at lunch. There were no speeches at the luncheon The official ceremony took place on the lower floor of the power-house, the main doors of which were opened by the Prime Minister. His Excellency then made lus speech, and, at the conclusion, started one of the turbines and switched on the lights.

The Hon J. Bitchener, Minister of Public Works, in whose Parliamentary electorate of Waitaki, the powfer station is located, presented to Lord Bledisloe a silver-mounted miniature of the turbine mounted on New Zealand stone in the form of an ink well as a memento of the occasion. Speeches followed from the Prune Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr M. J. Savage, Mr J. A nash, M.P., chairman of the Power Boards Association and the Minister of Public Works. After the ceremony the whole of the works were thrown open for inspection by the public. His Excellency’s Address. His Excellency the Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe). said that of all Governmental activities in the Dominion there was probably none more important and certainly none more calculated to assist in expanding its industrial prosperity, its domestic comfort and its social amenities than the prudent development of its hydroelectric resources and their progressive and enlightened application to the multifarious requirements of modern civilisation. There was scope for wide difference of opinion regarding the relative value and efficiency of private enterprise and that of the Government and public authorities. But in the matter of harnessing water power for a nation’s economic and domestic requirements there must be few who could reasonably doubt the wisdom of Government enterprise if guided by expert knowledge, long vision, courage and reasonable economy.

stations. In spite of adverse economic conditions, the consumption of electric energy was steadily advancing, the increase this year being estimated as a per cent above that of 1933, and new consumers, during the past year haying been connected at an average rate of roughlv 1000 per month. Approximately 23.5 per cent of the population of the Dominion were scheduled as consumers of electricity, and as each consumer was deemed to represent a household of four persons, it is Calculated that the boon of electric supply is available to 93 pei cent of this country’s total population It was satisfactory to note that while distributing costs were relatively high in this countr> when compared with some others, generating -*osts were exceptionally low, and as consumption increased with increased population, especially In the rural areas, the former would come progressively to yield a satisfactory return on capital expenditure. The average cost for ordinary domestic purposes was 1.31 d per unit, as against 1.30 d in Great Britain and I 39d in the United States of America. Although a reduction in the price of electricity supplied to consumers was greatly to be desired for the purposes of reducing farming, industrial and domestic costs, it was worthy of mention that the average revenue per unit received from them as a whole was only 1.28 d per unit and Horn those obtaining it from the Government schemes for farm and domestic purposes, only 1.234 d. These figures compared favourably with unit charges operating in more thickly populated areas in other parts of the world. Of Outstanding Importance. Any movement which tended to knit town and country more closely to gether and to cause their respective communities to realise their mutua interdependence and identity of interests was of outstanding national importance, and this was especially true of the and distribution of electricity. What indeed seemed to be needed more than anything else, if overhead costs and unit charges were to be lowered and rural uses for electric current amplified, was a fuller recognition of the complementary possibilities of user on the part of urban and rural consumers and the extent to which one could assis + the other. There was a great variety of farm processes to which electricity might usefully be applied with great convenience and profit to the farmer. A good illustration of arable farms was cultivation by the tractor. • If this and other like farm operations could be conducted at hours othei than those of the peak load (say between 11.15 and 11.45 a.m., and between 4 and 5 p.m.) in the urban areas such user of current should constitute an attractive proposition to the supplying authorities and should, judging by European experience, involve a cost of no more than Id j-er unit and ultimately considerably less. If any such user on the farms should by its growth constitute a new peak hour, it would become possible to lower the rates for ccoking and other domestic processes in the towns. In fact, by mutual accommodation at peak hours, the more that current was employed for cooking, the less it would cost at non-peak hours for farm tractors and other similar farm machinery, and the more that the latter could work at such hours the greater the prospect of reducing domestic charges. In initiating fresh applications of electricity to farm requirements it must not be left to the farmer to undertake possibly costly experiments of an isolated character. It would amply repay the supplying authority to expend money in demonstrations and advertisement. In the present state of international finance it was of vital importance to national welfare to trade with those countries which traded with us. As much of the fuel which supplied mechanical energy on New Zealand farms was imported from foreign countries whose custom with the Dominion was negligible, the adverse trade balance might be materially reduced by a greater use of electricity for such purposes. It was mentally stimulating to reflect, and nationally prudent to provide, that power generated from the snows of the Southern Alps was tilling the fields of this South Island and operating tractors of British manufacture (possibly assembled by New Zealand workpeople) rather than that the source of power and the means of utilising it were being derived from foreign sources. Uses in Agriculture.

Making full allowance for some costly experience and temporary set-

backs, such as that which occurred at' Arapuni three years ago, there was no ground for dissatisfaction with electrical development in this Dominion. If allowances were made for the mountainous character and thin population of the areas not yet reticulated, it would be found that electric supply was available to no less than 94 per cent of the total population (a percentage probably not exceeded in any other country in the world) with an average consumption per capita of about 500 units a year—a rate which was steadily increasing. The total capital invested in electrical supply undertakings in New Zealand was £32,000,000, of which £28,000,000 had been expended in the last eleven years. During the same period Government expenditure had amounted to £10.500,000. » Pleasantly Reassuring. The completion of this Waitaki generating station added r. ■ further 30,000 kilowatts to the installed generating capacity in the South Island, the ultimate capacity being 75,000 which could l>e provided by three additional 15,000kilowatt units as the demand for power increased in Canterbury, Otago and Southland. It was pleasantly reassuring to know that the public electric supply system of the Dominion had, in compliance with the State Supply of Electricity Act, not merely paid all interest on capital outlay and operating charges, but provided over £1,000,000 in reserves, of which £160,000 had been applied by the Treasury in repayment of loaned capital. Apart from the Waitaki station, the capital invested in the 95 electric supply sa-s----tems in New Zealand aggregated over £30,000,000. of which £10,500.000 represented Government expenditure. Last year the total units generated numbered over 857,000.000, of which 80 per cent were supplied from Government

It was in these countries which had been equipped by Nature with great

waterpower of immeasurable potential energy and which were at the same time predominantly agricultural that the possibilities of the application of electrical science and equipment to rural industry had been most marked and had derfionstrated the wide scope of its potential economic utilisation in a great variety of processes. The processes to which electricity was being applied in the rural areas of the world included electric ploughing, harvesting, the handling- of crops, threshing, elec-tro-silage, electro-culture ard the treatment of plants by intensive illumination, irrigation, pumping and liquid manure distribution, besides a great variety of purposes in connection with dairy farming, poultry-keeping and beekeeping. Of these perhaps none was more interesting or had proved more profitable than the use of electric light by poultry-keepers to increase egg production during the winter months. Ilis own experience showed that a 20 per cent increase in lay might thus be secured during the annual period of maximum egg value without any detriment to the vitality or constitution of the hens.

The much criticised lack of uniformity in the quality of New Zealand dairy produce in British markets was in n d small measure due to the inadequate scouring, with steam or boiling water, of milking machines and other dairy utensils on the farms. He could confidently prophesy that if and when electricity became available for this purpose to the majority of dairy farmers the average value of this Dominion’s butter and cheese in Great Britain would rise by at least Id per pound, and thereby on many a wellmanaged farm bridge the gap between loss and profit. Possible Developments.

Among the possible industrial developments which, I.e might follow the establishment of this great power station were the synthetic production of nitrogen from the air, the inauguration of the aluminium and caustic soda industries (the former if bauxite could be obtained cheaply from overseas), the winning of asbestos, and the low-grade mining on an extensive scale of gold and other metals.

He desired most heartily to congratulate Mr F. T. M. K.issell, Chief Electrical Engineer of the Public Works Department; Mr R. H. Packwood, the District Civil Engineer; and Mr L. S. Payne, electrical engineer, and all those who, during the last seven years, had been responsible for the designing and successful execution, in face of many difficulties of this great engineering feat, of which they and their fellow-countrymen, as well as the Government, had everv reason to be proud. It was satisfactory to note that the plant, machinery and construction materials required for the purpose were almost without exception Empire products. It was his earnest hope and prayer, as he formally declared open this epoch-making undertaking, that it would prove an incalculable blessing to people of all classes in this part of the Dominion and usher in a new era of prosperity, happiness , and industrial progress. Men and Machines. Mr M. J. Savage, Leader of the Opposition, said: —- “ This ceremony marks another milestone in the history of man’s mastery over the forces of nature in this Dom- ■ inion. It remains to be seen whether or not man will maintain that mastery and make available to the rank and file of the people the benefits of the machine and science, or whether these modern processes are to continue to multiply production and at the same time destroy the market in which the .products of industry should be sold. We need more than stored up electric energy. We need some plan by which that wonderful servant of mankind may be harnessed to modern machinery for the purpose of producing the essentials which constitute a high standard of living for the people. If we fail in making plans which will ensure that the benefits of these modern processes will find their way to the homes of the people, all the results of the tireless efforts of the scientist and inventor will have missed their mark. “ What was accomplished in the air by the great British airman and his colleagxie during recent days, has been to a large extent carried out in industry, and it seems as if those workmen—including farmers—whose labour was responsible for that wonderful advance in production are worse of? today than they were before that advance was made. “ Let us hope that this vast store of energy which has been officially opened to-day, and which has been made possible by workmen and engineers, will be the forerunner of still greater things, and that a grateful country will see to it that the men whose labour has made it possible will be found something better in the future than a relief job in return for their services.” Greater Scope for Enterprise. Mr J. A. Nash, M.P., president of the Power Boards and Supply Authorities Association, said he looked forward to the day when both islands would be completely reticulated. The primary need was capital and the State had been justified in raising loans abroad for hydro electric development. The Dominion’s system had been well planned and the engineers were to be congratulated on their fine work. “ Our main hope,” he said, “is a supply of cheap power for town and country alike, but the cost of reticu-. lation, especially in scattered areas, has been very heavy. Many complaints have been made but we should not be discouraged. The farmer, like the city man, will come into his own and we must not lose sight of the original aims of establishing a natural system.”

Continuing, Mr Nash said that the time would come when electricity would receive widespread application to agriculture with a resulting decrease in the drudgery of the farm and an increase in efficiency. Electricity had definitely ushered in a new age in economic and social development. With its full utilisation there would be greater scope for enterprise, more capital would be invested in primary and secondary industrial activities and new avenues of employment would be opened up. The potentialities of New Zealand’s hydro electricity system could not be exaggerated.