The Wanganui Herald (Published Daily.) WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 11, 1920. HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160725, 11 August 1920, Page 8

The Wanganui Herald (Published Daily.) WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 11, 1920. HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

As it seems certain that Wanganui will get no benefit from the Mangahao hydro-electric scheme (most of the power from which will be grabbed for Wellington, which did very little in promoting the enterprise), the Borough Council has turned its attention to the possibility of a local scheme, and is at present collecting data regarding the Wangaehu River as a source of supply. There is no doubt that a vast amount of water power is at present running to waste in the Wangaehu, but there are, of course, various details to be considered, such as cost of transmission, suitable site for>' powerhouse, constancy of water supply, and other matters, before it can be decided whether the Wangaehu scheme is likely to prove a commercial proposition. We think it quite likely, however, that the result of the Council’s investigation will justify the adoption of the Wangaehu as the source of power for a purely local scheme, and the setting up of a. Power Board representative of the different areas of the Wanganui district. But it must be borne in mind that, if this be done, it will be, as stated, purely and simply a local scheme, one for Wanganui and its immediate district only. A scheme on a larger scale, designed to serve the whole of this coast and not a part only, and operated by a Power Board representative of every local government district within such area, would be preferable from many points of view, not the least of which would be a considerable saving both in cost and construction and of operation. Unfortunately

this aspect of the question is too often lost sight of in the jealousies which exist between various localities, and the fear—which experience has sometimes shown to be well founded—that some one district will appropriate to itself most of the benefits, leaving the others with less than their due. Under such circumstances the disinclination of some local Bodies to “chip in” with others, and the prospect of a multiplicity- of purely local schemes can be easily understood, for the owners of the latter may argue that, in the long run, they are apt to derive more satisfaction from their possession than if partners in a larger scheme in which wire-pull-ing and bickering may have to be reckoned with.