Saving Face

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28551, 2 April 1958, Page 12

Saving Face

The National Party Government’s comprehensive electricity generation plan, although approved by overseas consultants and by almost every New Zealand authority, received rough treatment at the hands of the then Opposition. Consequently it is not surprising to find the new Government reluctant to endorse it wholeheartedly now. Yet there are numerous signs that the plan, on which Mr Nash and his colleagues are “ not keen ”, will ultimately be endorsed by the Government, perhaps not wholeheartedly, but certainly thankfully. The core of the plan is the construction of Benmore. with a capacity of 480.000 kw, and a cable across Cook Strait to supply power to the North Island, which, even with the maximum planned development of the Wairakei geothermal power station and the construction of all proved hydro-electric schemes in the island, will be short of power after 1963. The Government has proposed inquiries into alternative sources of generation, both geothermal and nuclear: but at the same time it has quietly gone ahead with its predecessor’s much-criticised plan. Work has started at Ben- * more; and the State Hydroelectric Department plans to lay a trial length of the prototype submarine power cable in Cook Strait this month. In spite of its professed enthusiasm

for geothermal power, the potential of which is open to dnubt. and for nuclear power stations, which are still very costly and which introduce unnecessary hazards, this is clear evidence that the Government does not intend to abandon the original plan. It would be foolish to do so. The restrictions already imposed in the North Island are a salutary reminder of the need for a new source of supply that will be both ample and secure, and the need for which will become all the greater if the Government succeeds in its avowed aim of expanding secondary industries. The Government’s obstinate refusal to endorse the plan can be explained only by a desire to save face.