THE POWER SHORTAGE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20025, 5 September 1930, Page 13

THE POWER SHORTAGE.

Ijs? t *9ITOB Oy THE PRESS think that the people jMjffifr 'realise the full rneanpresent power. shortage .of course, who either 'not trouble themselves fcßer aetruaUv- fails- Some jprifelift Works Department tj»at there w-pulci power and' that Hp/eoe'ssary;' since then,

they have stated that the position is serious. What has been done? J'see by the paper that Mr It. <-*• Mac Gibbon has been interviewed and reinterviewed by various deputations to find out what is going to be don® in the matter. The Public Works Department are doing all they possibly can in the way of augmenting the water supply; short of a few silent pravers for rain they can do no more. As'far as economy goes the responsibility rests no longer with them. Further I do not thinl* that they would have the power to interfere with a consumer obtaining his supply from a Power Board or Council. The economy position now rests with the various Power Boards, the largest of these being the Municipal Electricity If partment.. and it is tor them to set the example and for tyio others •5 ot ]3wrtisiiig lighting should be the first -thine' curtailed, . including any shop lighting after the shutting of the shoD I can quite understand, of course, that the street lighting will bo rather poor if this is done, but that cannot be.helped. Radiators and water heating' should be the nest to to. Those houses having a coal ange ./ 1 ® well as an electric one should have the electric range cut off Restricted born. of street lighting should depend upon the light conditions. If consumers taiJ to take the necessary steps, the position should be brought horn* to them by cutting off the supply during a period when it will, do least harm t industrial working, say, between the houfe of 8 p.m and 7 a.m. It seems to me that tho 1 Boards, etc.,. are trying to put the onus on the Public Works Department. This. is. not the right spirit at a^ im , e like this. The various supply autnoiities should make the position quite clear to their consumers, that the sooner" economy is'practised the less drastic this economy need be. IJ Christchurch had possessed a good steam stand-bv plant, now is the time when it would have been paying tor itself. The Progress League's figures of the Wahniikariri tiow for this year are verv interesting;' they show that, for the. wjio'ie ;wg.r. the flow has been considerably below the estimated value ? and that' the - proposed Waimakann scheme would have been suffering m .just the same way as . Lake Coleridge, perhaps, worse,. a.s I .think . tjhat the storage, is less.. I-, think that the expenditure of some of the profits or the Municipal Electricitv Department on a steam plaint- for stand-by and peak load cutting would be a much better oroposition than investinc: them m the Waimakariri scheme.—Youi;s etc. IIELAI. , September 4th, 1030.