SCHOOL POWER BILL

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28895, 15 May 1959, Page 7

SCHOOL POWER BILL

Complaints By Headmaster The Municipal Electricity Department was charging the Cashmere High School for electricity at a rate more than double the rate the Springs Ellesmere Electric Power Board charged the Riccarton High School, said the headmaster of the Cashmere High School (Mr T. H. McCombs) at the monthly meeting of the school’s board of governors last night. “I notice from the newspapers that a commission of inquiry into the distribution of electricity is sitting at present. I think we should forward a copy to the commission of the letter we sent to the M.E.D. recently and approach the Post-Primary Schools Council and the Christchurch Technical College to make representations to the commission,” he said. “But I think a copy of our letter to the M.E.D. should go forward to the commission immediately. I think if we wrote for a review of charges to schools, it would be acceptable to the commission as evidence,” Mr McCombs said. Discussing the rates different power boards charged schools, he said for the same period, Cashmere was charged £55 17s lid, Lower Hutt School £29 2s 7d, and Riccarton £37 10s 6d. “If our charges were the same as Riccarton we would be able to have another 300 to 400 library books on our shelves a year,” he said. More Use The newer schools were constructed to make more use of electricity than the older schools and Cashmere’s expenditure on electricity for last year was in the vicinity of £3OO. “That is a substantial bill by any account and this year it will be the same or slightly higher,” he said. The charges were fixed in the days when the only charges were for lighting schools but today schools supplied hot water, he said. The M.E.D. charged schools a special rate of 2d a unit whereas the Springs Ellesmere Power Board charged schools at the , same rate as ordinary consumers . —fd a unit, Mr McCombs said. About four years ago, the M.E.D. charged schools a higher rate of 3d a unit but this was dropped to a special rate of 2d a ' unit. “But this is not fair enough, the money we are paying for the electricity is coming out of ’ the classrooms,” said Mr Me- • Combs. The board passed a motion i authorising the secretary (Mr P. i J. Halligan) to write to the com- < mission along the same lines as j the letter the board sent to the | M.E.D. i