"I WAS DUMPED."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 226, 23 September 1936, Page 10

"I WAS DUMPED."

A MEMBER'S CRUSADE. HYDRO-ELECTRIC SCHEMES.UNIFORM CHARGE WANTED. (By Telegraph. —Parliamentary Reporter.) , WELLINGTON, Tuesday. In. replv to an interjection in the House of Representatives to-n.ght when he was discussing the schemes referred to in the Public Works Statement, Mr. J. Hodgens (National, Palmerston North) said that up, to-about a week ago he was chau man of electricity committee of the »» North Borough Council as well as ben e deputy-Mayor. added "There was an inquiry, he added,, "and I was dumped." He « a policy whereby town and country were drawn together and not driven apart. Previous Ministers of Public Works had driven a wedge between ruial and urban interests. He said tliei e were 43 electric power boards, -9 borou,, . councils, five county councils, five town boards and six private companies distributing electricity in the Dominion. For all intents and purposes hydroelectricity w'Jis controlled by the people , and there was no real control by vested interests. The State had £13,000,000, invested in hydro-electric schemes and local bodies £18,000,000. Mr. Hodgens said he saw no reason why all electricity authorities should not work conjointly in the interests of consumers. There was no uniform charge per kilowatt and he blamed the

Public Works Department. In one" portion of the country the charge per kilowatt was £5 add in another district £9. The first thing that the present Government should do was to see that there was a uniform charge per kilowatt throughout the Dominion, and proper provision could then be made for stand-by plants and so forth.