Water Powers of the Dominion.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 2209, 22 August 1910, Page 6

Water Powers of the Dominion.

With one exception Mr Taylor's is the only mind (says the " Ouiarau Mail ") which has grasp id the real significance of "the question of the waten power of the Dominion. The exception i*, of course the Government, which has induced Parliament to make those S ate powers a monopoly. If the Government would only do what Mr Taylor insists they ought to do, namely, indicate tho locality the) intend first to operate in and b .Idly start there with th-ir first project then would be nothing further to say on the subject. Mr Taylor is first public man of the Lower House at all events who hap shown an appreciation of the the extent of the interest at stake. He is the first who placed in the handsof tho Government for m n-u things of public utility than the railways; steam the use of which in railways is a Government monop )ly, being a power considerably infe br. It is not, onh for the railways of the fuiure, but, for manufactures, that electricity will be available bee. It. will, besid-s, give light to town, hamlet and farm shading ; it will give power to the traveller on tbc road, and it will, give 'is much to tho work* ron the farm. There is no end to the benefi s of the water system wlrch it is i.i the pov r of the Government to inaugurate at once. That iisolf is a I'wrceable reason why there should be no delay As announced in the Governor's speech the new policy reads like the firot instal ment of a second gr at public work policy, with an assured finance can be obtained at a moment's notice. Where is tho water scheme '?

The reactionary parly are not i'oml of dwelling upon the Cheviot settlement history, (says the Dunedin "Star") for the very good reason that it is fatal to their favourite statements regarding the alleged failure of the leasehold system. Here are the facts and figures in relation to Cheviot, as recorded during a debate in the House on December the (>th hist : The income from the Clieviot Estate is t'l 1,000 a year ; the interest on the cost comes to £IO,OOO. That leaves a credit balance of over £I,OOO a year. In another six years one-half of the Cheviot leases will fall in, and the leases will be revalued, and there will be a bigger return than £14,000 a year, and a bigger rent profit than £I,OOO a year. Tn a few years' time the whole of the cost of Cheviot wdl be written off the books of the Dominion, an I we will then be drawing about £IB,OOO a year from Cheviot, and it will not have cost tlie country one sixpence. Mr Massey's policy would virtually involve the payment of a gratuity of 6100,000 to fifty Clieviot settlers, who are doing well enough as it is; an I Mr Forbes naively remarked that lie himself might benefit to the tune of £3.000 by the adoption of the Conservative proposals. Strange to say, he wants neither the freehold nor the gratuity, though Mr Massey doubtless regards him as a foolish and rather provoking man. Taking a wider field, no less than £(517,000 is offered to some 1,051- renewable lease tenants and grazing run holders—offered by the political purists who prate about Ministerial ' Tammanvism."