Comment On Power Plan For Industries

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29872, 12 July 1962, Page 6

Comment On Power Plan For Industries

The New Zealand system of having to consult the Government at every step in setting up industries deterred companies considering starting industries in this country, said the senior lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Canterbury (Dr. T. Hagyard) yesterday. He was commenting on the Government's statement that it is prepared to supply cheap power or grant water rights for the production of hydroelectric power to major industries in New Zealand which would earn or save overseas exchange. “It would be a great advantage if the provision of cheap power or water rights to industries was a cut-and-dried scheme and conditions under which such concessions would be granted were fixed by regulation,” Dr. Hagyard said.

“The system in New Zealand under which the Government has to be consulted at every turn in the setting up of major industries is a great deterrent to companies which might consider establishing industries here.” he said. “If the companies knew exactly where they stood in relation to the cost of power, either by the use of cheap power or the granting of water rights to provide their own power, they could go ahead and cost the prospective industry on a firm basis.”

In his opinion. Dr. Hagyard said, the Government should limit cheap power or water rights facilities to industries which would have a large power consumption, so that the State would not have to support a large number of small industries.

Questioned about the proposed carbide industry at Westport, Dr. Hagyard said that the companies interested in starting it would now require to know at what cost they could obtain power from the State, so that they could decide whether it was a better economical proposition to use cheap power or to build their own generating plant on water rights granted. The granting of

water rights by the Government had been an intermediary move by the Government so that the companies interested could continue their investigations in the knowledge that power for the industry was assured. "Should Prove Vital” The move by the Government should prove a vital factor in attracting new industries to New Zealand and, in turn, ensuring more jobs for the expanding population, said the secretary of the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association (Mr R. T. Alston). It was logical and timely for the Government to endeavour to ensure that fullest use was made of one of New Zealand's best natural resources—water for hydroelectric power, he added. Although it appeared that the concessions would a»ply to only large companies, the association presumed that it would be extended to large industrial users of power as they built up exports of manufactured goods. It could be held, from this point of view, that the scheme was an incentive to export, Mr Alston said. The Canterbury Public Relations Officer (Mr E. G Beckett) said that until a full statement was released by the Government it was too early to say what effect it would have in attracting industries to Canterbury. It seemed obvious that it would relate to large industries, and that the concessions could have considerable influence on companies which might be prospective promoters of industry in New Zealand.