ELECTRIC ENERGY

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13891, 17 October 1918, Page 6

ELECTRIC ENERGY

DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. POSSIBILITIES IN NEW ZEALAND. MR SIMPSON'S VIEWS. Mr James Simpson, the Canadian Labour leader, was in Hamilton on Monday. Speaking to a YVaikato Times representative he had something to sayregarding hydro-electrical power, in which this province is particularly interested just now. Remarkable Progress. "The future development of the commerce and industries of New Zealand," said Mr Simpson, "can be expressed in the terms of 'Electric Energy.' It is amazing to see such potential wealth unutilised in a country where imports bear such an important relation to exports in volume and value. According to the estimates made by the experts, there are at least three and a-half millions horse powef in the water supplies of the Dominion. In both the United States and Canada we have made remarkable progress in the development of electric energy by the utilisation of our water powers, and in the province of Ontario, in Canada, with a population of over 3,000,000, we are supplying the electric energy for lighting and industrial purposes in every hamlet, village, town, and city. A Government Responsibility.

"The progress of our electrical development scheme dates back to the time when both manufacturers and workingmen deputationised the Provincial Parliament, and requested that the development ar,d transmission of electric energy from Niagara Falls be made a Government responsibility, and that the municipalities assume the responsibility for its distribution. In response to this request the Government organised a Commission, whose duty it was to develop a scheme for the Government and municipal ownership and operation of development plants at all important water sources. The use of electric energy for industrial purposes was made necessary, because it was becoming impossible for the Ontario industries to compete with the industries of the United States, where water power had so materially reduced the cost of power. The working men also realised that if the Government undertook the responsibility for the development of electric energy the private companies would not be in the position to charge such high rates for power for lighting and cooking purposs, and that a big scheme to develop and transmit electric energy would serve the needs of both 'the industries and the domestic consumers of power.

The Demand Insistent "The Commission appointed by the Government were able to enlist the municipalities of the province in the scheme, and the Government were assured that if they proceeded with the erection of the necessary plant for the transmission lines their bonds would be guaranteed on the security of the municipalities. The scheme was. originally carried out by the Government ment entering into a contract to purchase a limited supply of power from one of the private development companies, but later this private company sold its physical assets to the Government. Another important water power was available, and the Government are now erecting a development plant for the supply of 200,000 additional horse power. The two development plants will give our province in the neighbourhood of 500,000 horse power. This will be adequate to meet the needs of the industries and munfcipalities for some time, but the Government, have approved the construction of a network of radial railways, for which power will have to be supplied from these two sources, Niagara Falls and Chippewa Creek. It is the intention to supply the needs of the farmers of the province, whose demand for electric energy is insistent. The main electric wires supplying the power for the operation of the radial railways will be the feed wires to the controllers, from which the distribution lines will extend to the farms of the province. Saving of Dollars and Coal.

"The development and transmission of electric energy by the Government has been the means of reducing the rates for power for industrial and domestic purposes by quite 66 per cent., and it is estimated that the manufacturers and domestic consumers are saving fully three million dollars a year. There has also been a saving of 3,000,000 tons of coal per year, and that is a very important item when it is considered that we obtain our supply of bituminous and anthracite coal from the coalfields of Pennsylvania. The haulage of such a huge quantity of coal involves a tremendous outlay of money, and the production of power within our own province has wrought a remarkable change in our industrial conditions. Ontario manufacturers are now able to compete with United States manufacturers on even terms so far as power is concerned, and the action of the Government has been enthusiastically commended bp all the citizens of the province. Revolution In the Home.

"But the revolution has also pone on in the homes of the people. It is there the women have experienced the joy of having a great deal of their heaviest work done by electric energy. Homes are lighted, washing is done, ironing is done by electric energy. When the mother sews by means of the sewing machine the electric current is brought into requisition. Carpets are also swept by electric energy, and bread toasting has been simplified by the use of the electric toaster, and when the husband is eating his porridge in the morning the electric toaster is at his elbow at the table doing its work. Even the winding of the mechanism of the phonograph is done by electric energy. These are some of the uses to which electric energy is being put, but during the next decade there will be still further important developments in the use of the electric current for domestic purposes. New Zealand's Possibilities. "New Zealand's possibilities are tremendous because of its tremendous sources of electric energy, and I expect to hear of the whole industrial plant of the Dominion being operated by electric energy during the next decade There will be abundant use for the coal of the nation owing to the demand for its many by-products, and thus the country will be able to utilise both its coal supplies and its water powers "