Clean Air Society Seeks Lower Electricity Charges

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32031, 4 July 1969, Page 12

Clean Air Society Seeks Lower Electricity Charges

The New Zealand Clean Air Society will press the Government and the City Council to lower the charges for electrically heated homes in Christchurch in an attempt to reduce air pollution.

At the society’s annual meeting last evening a resolution was passed “that in view of the 1968-1969 profit made by the Municipal Electricity Department and because of the serious air pollution problem in Christchurch, the society press the Government and the City Council for lower charges for all-electrically heated houses in Christchurch.” The open coal fire must be eliminated if the community wished to avoid the serious effects of polluted air, the president of the society (Mr 1. R. Densem) said. This was not widely appreciated, although there was an awakening among citizens that changes must be made in the use of domestic fuels, he said. There was not one coal suitable for burning on an open fire in Christchurch without causing pollution through air inversion. Oil was also not suitable, he said. The answer to the problem of air pollution in Christchurch was the use of electricity or gas for heating, Mr Densem said. People did not

realise that electricity was really very much cheaper than coal for heating. “You can’t force people to change," Mr Densem said. “That is why we consider publicity and education the most important functions of the Clean Air Society." The society’s publicity officer, Mr P. V. Neary, said that people were “just too plain lazy” to change from their coal fires.

“Complete and utter apathy is the reason people won’t change. They don’t want the bother of it,” he said. Mr Neary said there was no objection to open fires provided smokeless fuel was used. “Dragging Chain” Christchurch was “dragging the chain” in dealing with the problem of air pollution, said Mr Densem. He told the society’s annual meeting that between $5OOO and $6OOO a year was spent on the problem in Auckland and this year it was

planned to spend only $lOOO on it in Christchurch. “ And the problem is five times worse in Christchurch than it is in Auckland,” he said.

Mr Neary said that the organisation had been struggling on for three years with no support yet forthcoming from the Christchurch City Council or the Regional Planning Authority. Experiments on ways of reducing air pollution were being held up because of lack of funds, Mr Neary said. It was a little disappointing that another branch of the New Zealand Clean Air Society had not yet been formed outside Christchurch, Mr Densem said. However, interest had been shown in various other centres in both the North and South Islands. In his annual report, Mr Densem said that membership of the society had increased from 71 to 120 and from 10 to 16 corporate members.

He said that there were now clean air groups at Aranui, Beckenham-St Martins and Hornby. ——