COOK STRAIT CABLE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29068, 3 December 1959, Page 28

COOK STRAIT CABLE

Minister’s Reply “Unsatisfactory” (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, Dec. 2. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Holyoake) said today that the reply of the Minister of Works (Mr Watt) to Mr Holyoake’s allegation of muddlement and delay over the Cook Strait power cable was completely unsatisfactory. “The Minister states that the report he received some time ago is a lengthy, complicated and technical document. If this is correct, as I am sure it is, the Miriister’s planning committee should meet at the earliest possible moment to consider it. But, according to the Minister, the committee is not to meet till February,’’ Mr Holyoake said. “The Minister states, correctly, that power today is in adequate supply. He challenges me to dispute this. What the Minister fails to mention is that power is in adequate supply at the present time solely because of the planning and construction of power projects undertaken by the National Government “The Labour Government’s policy of indecision and delay must inevitably result in power shortages in the future. In this connexion, the Cook Strait power cable project is an outstanding example of the Labour Government’s ineptitude. It is time the Minister got on with his job instead of merely talking about it”