Negotiations on price of power called for

Press, 12 September 1980, Page 3

Negotiations on price of power called for

South Island local bodies want the Government to .negotiate the price of power ■ with electrical supply authorities. i The call came at the final I day of the South Island Local 'Bodies Association’s conferlence in Christchurch yesterday. Mrs Mollie Clark (Christchurch City) put a new remit before the conference calling for changes in bulk electricity tariffs and terms to be negotiated before the memorandum of agreement was drawn up and presented for signature. The conference supported the motion unanimously. Mrs Clark described the memorandum of agreement as a farce and a mockery. There was little or no consultation with supply authorities on the price of power and they had no right of negotiation. The conference also called for an urgent review of New Zealand’s over-all transport requirements, especially in the South Island. Mr D. R. Dowell (Timaru City) said that transport to the North Island for passengers and freight was inadequate. The Government had refused to introduce suggest ed services or even allow trials that would prove their demand and viability. Timaru was the only city in New Zealand where it was impossible to fly to another part of the same island, he said.

, Mr M. E. Foster (Lyttelton! ißorough) criticised the Gov-; iernment for not providing! [people with an alternative toj ! travelling a great distance be-. ifore they, could cross' into: [the North Island. Another remit which re-1 ceived the conference's sup-; port.called for the Govern-; ment to prohibit sales of bev-i erages in non-returnable! bottles.- i

Mr D. B. Rich (Waimairi County) described the nonreturnable bottles as commercially attractive but an environmental disaster. The assistant traffic manager of the Railways Department in Christchurch (Mr D. J. Bradley) told the conferference that critics of the Railways did not always get their facts right. The Railways Department always received adverse publicity when slips blocked the line between Christchurch and Picton, yet as a service the Railways was 97 per cent reliable, Mr Bradley told delegates. “No-one blames the Ministry of Works when slips block the road, but if there is a slip across the railway line: it’s our fault,” he said. j He admitted that the Christchurch-Picton line suffered its share of problems! but very rarely was the line! blocked for longer than a; day. The line had been closed: for more than 24 hours only 20 times since .1965. The Railways service compared favourably with that of Christchurch Airport. In the last three years the airport had been closed 295 times — a total of 499 hours.