STATE CONTROL OF WATER POWER

Progress, Volume I, Issue 3, 2 January 1906, Page 49

STATE CONTROL OF WATER POWER

The Premier of New Zealand recently made a proposition to the effect that the State should find money to harness water powers and bring the electric lines within a given distance of the centre or centres to be served, whence the power centres be supplied to local bodies, corporations, or private individuals, at rates fixed b}' the Government ; and any buyer who in turn becomes a seller of the power must not charge more than a given rate fixed by the Government. The power would be supplied for lighting, traction (railways, tramways, etc.,) general power, heating, pumping, drainage, etc. Cheap power was essential to make permanent industries in competition with cheap wage countries. In 1896 the Government passed the Electrical Energy and Power Act, which prevented local bodies from delegating their powers m respect of such water supplies except with the consent of the Governor-m-Council. The American expert (Mr. Hancock) had estimated that 5680 horse power could be generated from the Manawatu (which vitally affected this district), and that from Lake Coleridge could be got 92,677 h.p., which would cost only about £$ per horse power per annum. "At per horse power — that is about what it would cost us — the Government should ask Parliament to spend one million for this purpose; it would be the best and most profitable investment the colony has made for years." Light, traction, and heating should be provided necessarily out of the funds of the State, and should be municipalised. Dunedin had had to pay a pretty stiff price — twenty or thirty thousand — to a syndicate that had received rights over Waipori falls. Over a 200 miles stretch, the loss of power in transmission was only one-eighth. The distance between Pahiatua and the Manawatu was short, and there would be very little loss, and there would be as much power as Palmerston North, Woodville, and Pahiatua would require for the next 999 years. In view of the number of settlers, the difficulty of getting metal, and the cost of transit, he thought a good case had been made out for a narrow gauge loop railway from the mam line at Eketahuna, through the back country, and joining the main line again at Dannevirke or some other town along the line ; he believed they could make it cheaper than they could metal the roads. Judging by the cost of such lines in Tasmania, they should be able to build it for not more than /iooo or /1500 a mile. Electric traction — power generated from the Makuri falls or the Manawatu stream as proposed — would provide cheaper running than steam. This scheme was practical, and it would be a test of the Opposition's sincerity whether they would support him in getting one million to bring motive power within reach of the towns at a nominal cost. It would be the life-blood of settlement in this back country and m the back blocks ; they should get surveys made and details prepared, and he would take the view of the people on this scheme for harnessing rivers, lakes, and waterfalls in the colony for motive power.