REPLY TO MR KISSEL

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24867, 6 May 1946, Page 4

REPLY TO MR KISSEL

URGENT NEED FOR ECONOMY "

LOW RESERVES AT ARAPUNI

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, May 5. “No responsible person will eccept Mr Kissel’s statement that he does not think the power situation will be any worse this winter than last winter as any official assurance,” said Mr Main in reply to the statement of Mr Kissel. “Mr Kissel states that by the middle of June of this year supply authorities will be receiving the same amount of power as at that time last year. Perhaps they will and perhaps they won't, but tne most important factor Mr Kissel overlooked is that all boards have put On larger loadings since last winter,” Mr Main continued. “In the case of my board there is 11 per cent, extra; There will, according to Mr Kissel, be no additional units for this extra loading, and anyone must appreciate that the shortage of power this winter must be worse than last.

“It helps little, when the facts are placed fairly and squarely before the public and helpful methods are suggested, for Mr Kissel to-make a statement which discounts or tends to nullify an urgent plea for economy. “My statement, although perhaps too alarming for some people* was in** tended to be, and I am sure is construed by most people as a constructive and helpful one in the national interest. With all boards going round last winter disconnecting districts and enforcing hardships, any statement, particularly at this juncture, that this winter will be no worse than last is not helpful. His Minister has already drawn attention to the dangerously lew levels of the lakes and the need for every possibly economy if we are to get through this winter. “It would have been easier for me to have done nothing other than to enforce disconnexions when instructed by Mr Kissel, but, knowing the full facts of the position, I again make an appeal to all consumers to economise in every possible way; otherwise today’s dangerously low reserve of water at Arapuni will be used before the heavy winter demand is on us. As I stated before,” concluded Mr Main, “the alternative to immediate economy by everyone will be unemployment in every class of industry; so let us all help.”