POWER BOARD LOAN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 156, 13 April 1928, Page 4

POWER BOARD LOAN.

Sir, —In the absence of Mr Watt, I feel that I should reply to the letter of Mr W. Acton in last night’s “ Guardian.” It is a pity that Mr Acton did not attend the meeting in Ashburton on Thursday week last as Mr Watt then, gave a very full account of the financial position of the Board up to the present, and also of its future prospects. The explanation there given showed the position much more clearly to the averagq person than would the perusal of balance-sheets. I hope that Mr Acton will attend the meeting tobe held in Ashburton East next Wednesday, when Mi- Nicoll will give fulldetails of the Board’s financial affairs.

I gather that Mr Acton refers to all distributing authorities in arriving at the capital investment of £l3 per liead of population. The number of voters stated is wrong, as the latest available figures show- that for Power Board loans alone, quite apart from municipal authorities such as Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and others, 46,036 voted for and 7146 against—over 6 to 1 in favour of the proposals. As Power Board loans constitute only 58 per cent, of the total loans, the balance being raised by cities and boroughs, Mr Acton is astray in referring to only 39,000 voters. Further, Mr Act'on makes no reference to the essential fact that those same supply authorities had a revenue for the year 1926-27 of nearly £3,000,000, which met all capital charges and working costs and still left a surplus. Surely if the loan liability is given, the fact that the Moans are-self-supporting should also be mentioned. W. H. RUNDLE. Ashburton, April 12, 1928.