WIDER AGREEMENT FOR POWER MOVES

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30630, 22 December 1964, Page 18

WIDER AGREEMENT FOR POWER MOVES

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, December 21.

There must be a wide measure of agreement before he was prepared to give legislative effect to any proposed changes in power distribution in New Zealand, the Minister of Electricity (Mr Shand) said today.

Mr Shand said he had had a meeting with the working committee set up in September to consider problems of power distribution.

The committee would meet again in the New Year and members should be in a position to report back to their organisations. “They will certainly not be reporting back a cut and dried plan for wholesale changes but I am very hopeful their report will show a sufficient measure of agreement to give guidance to those districts where the problem is particularly acute.”

In discussion the committee had considered the form of reorganisation which could be achieved in a number of individual districts.

He had never regarded the role of minister as requiring him to compel unwilling local authorities to reorganise. However, the success of the meeting illustrated the de-

velopment which could be achieved if discussions took place on the same terms among the interested groups in the various supply authority areas. OWN MOVES

He hoped districts would make some move themselves to initiate discussion rather than wait till a final report had been considered. Mr Shand said that if discussions took place they should not take the attitude that a meeting was only possible on the basis of the acceptance of everything which they themselves or the group they represented deemed to be desirable.

If, for example, amalgamation was to be achieved between a power board and municipal electrical supply association then neither party could hope to have entirely its own way. Each will be prepared to concede something to the other party’s point of view. MOVE FOR WAITARA The problem of conflicting interest between adjacent power supply authorities and between the communities they served, was pointed out this year by the move of the New Plymouth City Council to introduce a local bill empowering it to take over the function of electricity supply in Waitara borough. This bill was defeated in Parliament by a narrow margin but it served to emphasise the depth of the dissatisfaction in some sections of the

community with the rigid provisions of the present law. “There still remain considerable areas of disagreement but the members of the committee themselves clearly exhibited a much better understanding of one another’s problems,” said Mr Shand. Any reorganisation of a substantial nature conformed to certain fundamental principles, preserving the rights of minorities and retaining the advantages of strong local government, he said.