NO POWER CHANGES BEFORE AGREEMENT

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30499, 22 July 1964, Page 3

NO POWER CHANGES BEFORE AGREEMENT

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 21. No reorganisation of power supply authorities would be instituted by the Government unless there was a wide measure of agreement among the parties concerned, the Minister of Electricity (Mr Shand) said tonight.

He said his approach to reorganisation would be one of negotiation with provision, where appropriate, of adequate compensation to any local body which was prepared, in the broader public interest, to hand over its right to supply power to a supply authority constituted upon logical, regional fines.

Mr Shand was replying to a reported statement made by the president of the Municipal Electrical Supply Authorities’ Association (Mr E. Whittleston) who alleged the Electricity Department was in the last stages of a struggle for the complete control of the electrical industry. Mr Shand said Mr Whittleston's “outburst” was “uncalled for and unhelpful.” “Particularly, it is unhelpful to me. a newly appointed Minister of Electricity, searching for a solution to the problem of conflicting interests of municipal electrical supply authorities and power boards,” he said. HAD DISCUSSION Mr Shand said he recently had a brief discussion with Mr 'Whittleston on a very personal and friendly basis, during which he assured Mr Whittleston that while he was Minister of Electricity no reorganisation of power supply authorities would be instituted by the Government unless there was a wide measure of agreement among the parties. “And in saying ‘among the parties' I made it clear that this meant the municipalities as well as the ad hoc power authorities,” he said. Mr Shand said many of the municipalities wished to extend their area of supply—in most cases, to correspond with territorial boundaries

which had expired since the boundaries of their electricity operations were first defined. “Before the passing of the Power Boards Act in 1925 a number of municipalities had established electrical undertakings within their own borders.

“The Power Boards Act provided for the progressive extension of the supply of electricity and has resulted in electricity being available today in almost every corner of New Zealand.” BOARDS’ DUTIES

Mr Shand said every power board formed under that act was charged with the responsibility of extending supply as opportunity offered into the more remote parts of its area.

In order to ensure that the financial integrity of the power boards could be maintained so that they would be able to perform adequately this function, no provision was made in law for municipal supply authorities to absorb or take over any part of an area allocated to a power board except with the consent of the power board concerned.

“The nub of Mr Whittleston's argument is that many of the larger municipal supply authorities wish to take over substantial parts of the area of adjacent power boards and cannot do so unless Parliament is prepared to take away from power boards the protection of the 1925 act,” Mr Shand said.

Mr Shand said he frankly admitted there was some logic in this claim, but he for one—“and I am sure I speak

for many other members of Parliament” —was not prepared to take such a step unless it could be shown it was in the general public interest that such a change be made.

He said it would be the Government, and ultimately Parliament, that would agree whether it was in the public interest to give way to the requests of certain of the municipalities, which wished to extend their area of supply- ■ Mr Shand also said he thought Mr Whittleston was being quite unfair in his attack upon departmental officers. “And the quite unwarranted imputation that they are trying to persuade the Government to reorganise the method of distribution of electricity in order to provide some ‘cushy’ jobs for themselves and their friends.” Mr Shand said it had been the view of successive heads of the Electricity Department over many years that substantial economy in the distribution of electricity would derive from the amalgamation of a number of the smaller supply authorities. CALL FOR WITHDRAWAL “But to suggest these views are put forward from ulterior motives is quite unworthy of a man in Mr Whittleston’s position and I hope that he will withdraw this part of his statement.

“For my part, I share the view that some reorganisation is very desirable upon purely economic grounds, but I have tried to make it plain to Mr Whittleston, and to the supply authorities, that my approach to reorganisation will be one of negotiation with provision, where appropriate, of adequate compensation to any local body which is prepared in the broader public interest, to hand over its right to supply power to a supply authority constituted upon logical, regional lines,” said Mr Shand.