QUOTA POWER RATIONING

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27750, 30 August 1955, Page 12

QUOTA POWER RATIONING

DISCONTINUANCE BY COMMITTEE

CHAIRMAN OPPOSED TO DECISION

During his absence in Wellington the electricity committee had decided to discontinue quota rationing of power and revert to an appeal to the public to cor serve power, said the chairman of’the committee (Cr. G. Manning) to the City Council last evening. “Had I been present I would have opposed it,” Cr. Manning said. “When we are asked to make a reduction and try to keep within our allocation, I think the least we could possibly do is to try to abide by the instructions,” he continued. “If we as a city council take lightly instructions from an authoritative source I think we are on the wrong track and not setting a good example.” Just before he had left he had asked to have a list prepared of the most flagrant abuses of quota rationing, so that it might be possible to consider some action, Cr. Manning said. He was pleased to see that the committee had a saving clause that those who had saved power would have the fact taken into consideration next year. Cr. Manning reported that storage in the South Island hydro lakes stood at 118,340,000 units yesterday, and that the Municipal Electricity Department’s consumption for last week was .2 percent. below allocation. The big loads of the winter had been met successfully and given reasonable conditions, the storage should last until the normal spring rains, he said.