HYDRO-fZLECTRIC INSTALLATIONS. CxXXIIl. 
although the discharge from Barren Jack will be 1,500 
cubic feet per second during the time that irrigation water 
_is required and there is water to discharge, yet in the 
evidence given before the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee 
it is stated that should seasons like some of those we have 
experienced occur again, there will only be the water 
necessary for maintaining the flood in the river, 500 cubic 
feet per second, available for nearly nine months, so that 
during that period no electric current could be generated. 
What then would become of the industries established on 
the basis of cheap motive power, must they provide a steam 
plant capable of carrying on their works, or shut down the 
former? The interest and depreciation on the electrical 
and steam machinery would take all or nearly all of the 
savings, for both plants must be installed. 
According to Professor Unwin, interest, maintenance 
and depreciation account for 607 to 40% of the cost ofa 
horse power dependent upon whether the engine works 
1,000 or 3,000 hours per annum at full power, so that Mr. 
Scott’s estimate of only 25% for those items appears low, 
and consequently where, as in many parts of this State, 
coal can be obtained at a very low price, there is no justi- 
fication for the large expenditure involved in constructing 
a large dam and bringing current a considerable distance, 
where either a steam or gas driven plant can be more con- 
veniently established near a port or large city. It must 
not be thought that I am of opinion that hydro electric 
installations are not possible in this State, for there are 
many local applications of water as a source of power that 
can be utilized, and in other States there are large sources 
of power which will no doubt be fully developed. Wecan- 
not hope for the development which has taken place in 
other parts of the world where the conditions are very 
different, but I think that Mr. Scott is too optimistic, and 
