NEW POWER LOAN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 81, 16 January 1928, Page 5

NEW POWER LOAN

hH QBJEQTIQH RAISED.. . T3ME DEEMED INOPPORTUNE* REPLY BY THE CHAIRMAN. An objection to further expenditure 1)3" the Ashburton Electric . Power Board at the present time, was raised by Mr \V. G. Gallagher : at the nieeting oi the Beard this, morning, v Mr Gallagher said he objected to tho 6 per cent, that-haa. been decided upon for the proposed new £100,01)1) loan. fie thought it a very high raie.ior tho County to give to tutuie boarcts. Ho could not see where £"70,000 could bo used, for they had practically spent £323,200 now, and. aeiore all)tana authorised had been spent, they were going to ask for a iurtuer authority,. He considered that this was going too fast, and that public borrowing should " be very considerably curtailed. The best authorities were condemning the time-payment system. The splendid gas system in the town was something they were up against. He thought it was time to consolidate the position they had attained. Much good work had been done, it the position could.. not be consolidated tiiey should not borrow further., iixemption should be given to those people who are outside the area reached by the board's works.. It seemed that instead oi hi: rising; with the loan, and as' they were sdclose to the end of the financial yeaivthey should hold back. In sixteen months from now, the poll would coincide with' the County elections and- a good deal oi money wouid be saved. If the board's finances were to be curtailed by lack of further power, and none could be expected from Yvaitaki for three years, at least, why should* they endeavour, to go into further works. • The chairman (Mr F. W. Watt) said Mr Gallagher was putting the Board in an impossible position. He thought that at no very distant date Mr Gallagher might wish he had not made his statement. As to the Q per cent., he had never heard any objections from him since the Board commenced work in 1923. To curtail the busmess seemed a most illogical proposition. They had built a skeleton works, and not a man had teen refused. Distribution lines had been run to every man who required them. The question was, would these people leave the Board iuv the position of having all they wanted and not worrying about anyone else. To supply people with all the -equipment thev might reasonably cany, the Board must spent money. The lower Board, to make the system earn as much as possible, had to have more capital, and to gain this they had to ask the ratepayers, none, of whom rt-ould be gulled into voting for it on false information. The security in tho County was undoubted. As tar asborrowing was concerned, no responsible man would say that borrowing money to develop a profit-earning system such as they had,.was< a bad policy Expenditure in the past had been lon sound lines. It was good business 'to borrow money to make the system earn-the maximum amount of revenue, which at present was 1 between £30,000 and £35.000. From figures before him .ie was convinced that the Board could earn £50,000 a year year. It was utterly impossible for the Board to shut down at the present stage, and he had easonable grounds to believe that the icw loan would be carried as easily as Jie former loans. The outer area was , •lot responsible for any of the o::ns. As far as supply was concerned, • here was a danger of a shortage for ,t least one year, but was this any reason why the Board should curtail ts expenditure and then go full speed igain to overtake the -demand? The oolicy was to go ahead day. by day, building up the system to its maximum capacity. The winter of 1931 would be the bad one if these was to be a shortage. The Board was going to be tonest with the people and tell them vhat their position was. Just a few thousand pounds would be raised at l time as it was required. He did not think the intelligent people of the County would put unintelligent people on the Board, so that in future the whole system would be pulled down about their ears. Mr W. T. Lill sajd there was nothing: new about the new loan. It was just car lying on the old system. He hoped there would be no question about it.