D.— la.

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Financial Results. It may be interesting to have a few figures as to the financial results that can be obtained from the undertaking. The power being sold at an average of £7 per horse-power per annum, which is a very low figure compared with the price of steam in this country, it will be easy to calculate the income from every part of the line. Of course, for lighting purposes the unit would be sold at a much higher price. With regard to the running-expenses, the following would be the cost of the whole generatingstation and lines :— ... £ Chief engineer at, say, £500 a year .. .. .. .. .. 500 Two assistants at, say, £250 a year each .. .. .. .. 500 Three men at £2 per week each .. .. .. .. .. 300 One chief lineman at, say, £3 per week .. .. .. .. 150 Four linemen at, say, £125 per annum each .. .. .. .. 500 Office expenses and management .. .. .. .. .. 2,000 Total .. .. .. .. .. £3,950 Admitting that at the start only 10,000 h.p. should be used all over the North Island, we would then have an expense of £340,000 for installation, which, at 4 per cent, interest, 4 per cent, sinking fund) and 2 per cent, repairs and other costs, would make £34,000. £ £ 10,000 h.p. at £7£per annum .. .. .. .. .. 70,000 Less working-expenses .. .. .. .. 3,950 „ oil, waste, &c. .. .. .. .. 1,050 „ interest, &c, as above .. .. .. 34,000 39,000 £31,000 It will be seen that a yearly amount of £31,000 still remains as a margin on the business, and it stands to reason that this, being profit margin, would be increased proportionately to the amount of horse-power used, as the primary cost of wire is calculated for the total amount of power, or about 40,000 h.p. HUTT RIVER. At the invitation of His Worship the Mayor of Wellington, accompanied by Mr. R. S. Rounthwaite, Engineer of the City of Wellington, and Mr. Barton, Engineer at Upper Hutt, we visited the Hutt River. This river has a slow run between very steep, practically inaccessible banks, consisting of very high vertical rocks on one side, and on the other side very steep broken mountain-sides running at angles from 60° to 75°, and sometimes 80°. The water-measurements have been taken on a spot where the river runs between two rocks and where the flowing water has a width of 78 ft. The average depth has been found to be 1 ft. 7| in., and the mean velocity of the water 0-7 ft. per second. This gives us 78 x 1 ft. 1\ in. x 0 - 7 =91 cubic feet per second. This head of water would give us, with 100 ft. fall, 810 h.p. ; with 200 ft. fall, 1,620 h.p. ; and with 300 ft. fall, 2,430 h.p. at the power-station. To obtain these waterfalls, in the first case about two miles and a half, in the second case about three miles and a half, and in the third case about four miles and a half to five miles of race would have to be constructed, and this in a very rough, broken, mountainous country with no roads to bring material, and which presents any amount of technical difficulties that only capital could overcome. Taking the efficiency of the turbines at 0 - 85, of generator 0*95, and taking transmission line and transformation loss at 10 per cent., we would have with the largest computed fall, in Wellington, 1,600 h.p. This small amount of power is of no avail whatever for a city of the size of Wellington, where at the present day there would be a demand for electric power of about 1,500 h.p. for electric railways, about 2,500 h.p. for city lighting, and about 3,000 h.p. for industrial power—a total of about 7,000 h.p. It stands to reason that with these figures it would not be of any advantage to the City of Wellington to put up any power scheme for practically one-fifth of the necessary power at present required by the town, without leaving any margin for the certain increased demand for power for industrial purposes. Of course, Mr. Barton has shown us, according to his idea, the best spot from where the river should be studied, and I may state that these points are exclusive of the waters of the Mungaroa and the Akatarawa. Even if these two waters were taken in there would only be about 2,500 h.p. available in Wellington, but technical difficulties below the Mungaroa would make the whole scheme practically impossible, both from a technical and financial point of view, as by this time the Hutt River has left the gorges and runs in flat open fields. It would be difficult at the present day to give even a rough estimate of the cost of the scheme, but I consider that the plant could be put in for nothing below from £150,000 to £200,000, because of the great technical difficulties to be overcome by building the head-race. Of course, 1,600 h.p. at £7 = £11,200 would never pay as a financial scheme. Taking £200,000 at 4 per cent, interest, 4 per cent, sinking fund, and 2 per cent, repairs and maintenance, we get 10 per cent, on £200,000, which amounts to £20,000. To this we must add about £3,000 or £4,000 working-expenses, which gives us £10,000 more expenses than we have income. I believe that these figures alone are sufficient to dismiss the whole scheme, as it shows the impracticability of using the Hutt River for any scheme such as proposed.