- Project Runeberg -  Sweden : historical and statistical handbook / Second part : industries /
334

(1914) [MARC] Author: Joseph Guinchard
Table of Contents / Innehåll | << Previous | Next >>
  Project Runeberg | Catalog | Recent Changes | Donate | Comments? |   

Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VII. Manufacturing Industries. Introd. by [G. Sundbärg] K. Åmark - Waterfalls of Sweden. By F. V. Hansen

scanned image

<< prev. page << föreg. sida <<     >> nästa sida >> next page >>


Below is the raw OCR text from the above scanned image. Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan. Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!

This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.

-334

vii. manufacturing industries.

waterfall at a small rental and for a long period of time, which contract
was only to come into force in case the Crown was awarded the proprietary
rights. In this manner the present proprietor would be secured in the
right to use the water-power for a considerable time to come, even if the
finding of the court went against him. However, in actual practice these
"waterfall rights" have not hitherto been made use of, the reason
apparently being the novelty of the legal form, and the fact that lenders prefer
to take an ordinary mortgage on real property.

One way of encouraging the conveyance of waterfalls with such rights
would be, obviously, that the State itself should step forward as a lender.
In fact, in the Riksdag of 1912 a bill was introduced to investigate the
question of the creation of a loan fund for users of State waterfalls with
waterfall rights, and the Riksdag passed the bill. In the following year,
a supplementary bill was brought forward proposing that the
investigation thus called for might likewise be extended to a loan fund for the users
of waterfalls in private hands.

In conclusion, as a step in the waterfall policy of the State, it may he
pointed out that the Crown has purchased several large waterfalls from
private persons and concerns, partly in order to hold them in reserve for
a future electrification of the State railways, partly in order to complete
its property in certain river areas. Among the latter purchases are to he
noted those in virtue of which the State has acquired practically sole
ownership of all the water-power in the River Göta älv between Lake
Vänern and the Sea.

But the State can and should encourage the utilization of water-power
even in other ways than those just indicated, namely by framing its
legislation in such a spirit that the least possible obstacles shall be
encountered and the greatest possible promptitude effected in the legal treatment
of questions relating to the construction of power works and dams. In
this respect much remains to be done.

True, Sweden posses a Water Act of such a recent date as the Royal
Ordinance "concerning the landowner’s right to the water on his land", of
December 30, 1880, supplemented by Royal Proclamation of October 20,
1899 "concerning regulations to be observed by those desirous of acquiring
a license from the King to build on a Crown water-course (kungsådra1)".
But the regulations of that act do not by any means satisfy the legitimate
demands of the modern water-power industry. Not only is the legal and
administrative procedure far too cumbrous and slow and leaves too little
scope for expert knowledge, but the law actually places obstacles in the
way of a rational utilization of water power, and in many cases renders
it impossible. In the last respect it is specially to be noted that the law
does not concede the right of expropriating ground for the actual power

1 The purpose and definition of the term "Kungsådra" ("Kings artery") will he found in
the second section of paragraph 7 of the said Royal Proclamation. Cf. also the article on
Fishing.

<< prev. page << föreg. sida <<     >> nästa sida >> next page >>


Project Runeberg, Tue Dec 12 01:37:10 2023 (aronsson) (download) << Previous Next >>
https://runeberg.org/sweden14/2/0348.html

Valid HTML 4.0! All our files are DRM-free