HYDRO-ELECTRICITY

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 256, 1 December 1930, Page 6

HYDRO-ELECTRICITY

In the absence of any indication thafc the Government tontemplates an imniediate resumption -of work on the Arapuni scheme, observers of the situation are left with the impression that it is still considering ways and means. While Professor Hornell's report was arclaimed in some quarters as a vindieation of the wliole scheme, the outstanding feature about it was the great estimate cost of putting the remedial measures recommended into execution. Even though the resumption of operations and the ultimate reopening of the plant means. power for the whole of the Auckland province, and the compietion of the hydro-electric network envisioned by the Public Works Department when it' formulated ihe plan of having three great major liydro-electrie stationg for the North -Island, it is impossible to feel jubilant about the reopening when to bring it about over half a million pounds musfc be expended. Even the cost of the professor bimself was no inconsiderable item. His fee was £4000, and to this must presumably be added travelling and secretarial expenses while in New Zealand, as well, as the -cost- of rusliing hira and his assistant from Sweden. When all this expense has been incurred through the neglect of a former political administration to go cautiously in its construc-tional commitments, the people are necessarily suspicious of any official or other pronouncements on the subject of Arapuni 's vindication. The whole truth about Arapuni — about who gave the final "yea or nay" that adopted it as a policy or rejec.ted alternative scbemes — will probably never be known. The influence of the city of Auckland, its press and its political and business interests was tbrown into the scale from the start. It will be remembered that Aratiatia was mentioned as an alternative,' but was rejected on the ingenuous excuse, wbicb may, however, have been offered with all sincerity, tliat it was "too far from Auckland." There was also talk of a huge steani power plant in the Waikato valley, at Mercer, where great power could have been generated from the slack coal produced by tbe Huntly mines. This proposition was rejected, and instead tbe large steam plant at King's Wbarf, Auckland, was reinforced. Owing to delay at Arapuni, additional power had to be seeured by tbe importation of powerful German Diesel engines, oi'iginally designed for wai'rtime submarines. Wb-en at lengtb Arapuni did begin to generate tbe King's Wbarf and Penrose plants were retained merely as stand-by plants, and their staffs were mucb reduced. Then when Arapuni failedf the staffs were brought back again, and Auckland is still lit and powered by tbe plants that a few montbs ago were relegated to figurative oblivion by the arrival of tbe water-generated power. Tbe details of Professor Hornell's report, perused since tbe original precis of it was made available, show that there is no particular reason to regard his report on Arapuni as a "vindication." The rpeasures he recommended for the restoration of tlie scheme- are botb complex and cost-ly, and his additional observation that tbe rock abutments of the dam could advantageously be strengtbened does not tend to increase confidence in tbe general lav-ont. Wbat Professor Hornell had to say about the other schemes be examined has not yet been disclosed, but it is unlikely that be found mucb faulb with them. The Waitaki power scheme, the newest of them, is erected on totally different counfcry from that at Arapuni, and is, in fact, an altogether different type of scheme. The d-etails of his observations concei'ning Waikaremoana will, when released, be read with interest in Hawke's Bay, as there is little doubt that full development of Waikaremoana, with the provision of tbe additional generating stations, will make it not only the finest power plant in New Zealand, but also one of the greatest in the world. Mangahao, the first scheme on the list, gave years of trouble, and the cost exceeded the estimates by hundreds of tbousands of pounds every year. S'nce this experience has been repeated at Arapuni, not mucli confidence can be placed in political efforts to develop power schemes. The vicissitud-es that have attended power development in a countrv so splendidly endowed as New Zealand are an indictment of the whole principle of State enterprise.