MANAPOURI INQUIRY Commission Given 6 Months To Report

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32280, 24 April 1970, Page 46

MANAPOURI INQUIRY Commission Given 6 Months To Report

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, April 23.

The commission of inquiry into Lake Manapouri will have six months in which to report to the Government under the terms of reference announced today by the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake). It will conduct its sittings in public.

It will inquire into the dispute arising out of the proposal to raise the level of the lake, and implications associated with not raising the level.

"1 am anxious that the commission should get under way as quickly as possible,” Mr Holyoake said in a statement. He said the Cabinet Committee on Manapouri met yesterday to consider the full Government report on the issue, and this would be made available to the commission next week.

Subjects covered in the report included the rights and obligations of the parties to the Manapouri agreement, the availability of electricity, alternative sources, effects of a raised lake level on amenities and activities, and the cost of not raising the lake. Terms Of Reference

He said the terms of reference would cover:

The facts relating to the matters which are in dispute or which are the subject of objections arising out of or consequential upon the proposal to raise the level of Lake Manapouri for the purpose of generating electricity.

The rights, powers, obligations and liabilities of the parties to the agreements which provide for the generation of electricity by the Manapouri power scheme and the supply of that electricity to Comalco and the Crown, so far as those rights, powers, obligations and liabilities relate directly or indirectly to the raising of the level of Lake Manapouri.

The immediate and long-term effects of a raised lake level on scenery, shoreline areas, tourism, wildlife, fisheries, scientific values, recreation and any other amenities and activities, and the mea-

sures necessary or desirable to counteract or mitigate those effects, and the feasibility and estimated costs of such measures.

The effects on the aforesaid rights, powers, obligations and liabilities and on the availability of electricity to Comalco and to the Crown under the said agreements of not raising the level of the lake, the measures necessary or desirable to counteract or mitigate those effects, and in particular any alternative proposal for the generation of electricity and the supply thereof to Comalco and to the Crown, whether from the Manapouri power scheme or from any other source, and the cost of that electricity. Power To Adjourn

“The commission will generally inquire into such matters which it considers should be investigated,” the Prime Minister said.

“The commission has power to adjourn from time to time and from place to place as it thinks fit

"The sittings shall be open to the public, except where evidence or information of a confidential matter is to be received.

“The commission is to report by October 30.” Mr Holyoake also released at the same time two papers which have been considered by the Cabinet committee. One is a chronological summary of events leading up to the present position, and the other deals with the provisions of agreement with Comalco.

The Prime Minister said that releasing papers as they became available should help to expedite matters. Assurances On Dam

Meanwhile assurances have been received by the vicepresident of the Save Manapouri Campaign (Sir Jack Harris) that work on the Mararoa Dam will not pro-

ceed until after the findings of the commission of inquiry have been submitted to the Government

“Men are working on the installation of a rock weir at Mararoa, but this is to conserve water in Lake Manapouri,” Sir Jack Harris said in Wellington. “It does not raise the level of the lake." He said men were also working on the site of the control dam at Lake Te Anau at the entrance to the Waiau River. This control dam had been approved in principle by the Nature Conservation Council. “I do not say that we entirely agree with this, but our major concern is the Mararoa dam,” he said.