ELECTRICITY CONTRACT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 174, 24 July 1923, Page 6

ELECTRICITY CONTRACT.

OFFER TO CHBIBTCHTTKOH. "A FIGHT IN THE HOUSE." ! 1 (By Telegraph—Press Association.) ; CHRIBTCHURCH, thi» day. « City Councillors .were taken by cur- '■ prise last night when a letter from the j Minister of Public Works was read j . stating that if the council was pre- J pared to forego the remaining eighteen months of the electricity contract,.; j which expires on March 31, 1925, the } Department was prepared to enter into ( a fresh contract for ten years at a die- ( count of ten per cent off standard , rates. The chairman of "the Electricity Committee said that the Department's offer was somewhere about sixty per cent i increase on the present rates, and for ' the next eighteen months the cost ' would be £33,000 extra for electricity over and above the present rate. ' The Mayor said that it was rather surprising at this late stage, after the council had investigated the Waimakariri scheme, that the Government should offer a ten years' contract in consideration of the council foregoing the present contract. The report , on the Waimakariri scheme would be available in a few days. Councillor E. Howard, MJP.: "We will have to fight on the floor of the House." The Mayor: "The time has cone when all city members must fight the battle on the floor of the House." The council decided to discuss the ' matter at a special meeting next Monday.