LOWER HUTT'S GAS

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 96, 23 April 1921, Page 9

LOWER HUTT'S GAS

NEW WORKS PROPOSAL

MOTION FOR EARLY POLL

SCHEME EXPLAINED TO RATEPAYERS.

Something in the nature of an appeal to' a higher authority was made in Lower Hutt last evening in connection with the long-standing dispute over the supply of gas to the town. The Borough Council, faced with the demand of the Pctone Bormigh Council for a higher rate of payment for the gas which retone sells, has, in its opinion, exhausted every means for settling the difficulty, and recently obtained an expert report which recommended that Lower Hutt should establish its own gasworks. Last night a public meeting of ratepayers was held to discuss the report and give some ■ guidance to the council aa to its future action. It was intended that the meeting should also hear a report by Messrs. H. W. Climio and Son on a hydro-elec-tric scheme for the borough. When the gas question had been well developed it was apparent that there would not be time to deal with the electrical report, and tfop meeting was postponed for a week to consider it. Brief reference!) were made to the hydro-electric scheme, however, and it was impressed upon the meeting ■ vh.at the proposals for gasworks on the one hand and for an electric power-station on ths other were not in any sense alternatives. Whether the hydro-electric scheme went on or not, some action in respect to gas was necessary.

There was a large attendance, and the ratepayers present gave very close attention to the long and intricate explanations put before them. The'upshot of the meeting was a resolution recommending that a poll should be taken as early as possible on the question of raising a loan to erect a gasworks in accordance with the report of the expert, Mr. A. Ford. Mr. E. P. Riahworth, -who had just been re-elected Mayor of Lower Hutt unopposed and took the opportunity of expressing his thanks, gave a long and interesting survey of the dispute between the two boroughs, and warned those present against accepting without careful judgment the criticisms which were being levelled at those who were trying to remedy the now unsatisfactory position. Many attacks had been made upon the gasworks scheme. It had been suggested that the. necessary money could not be obtained; but the council bad fought the matter so far that it had the full support of the various governing bodies (except, in Petone), and of the Minister of Finance, and the President of the Board of Trade, in the view that a new gasworks was essential. It had been insinuated that the "rich people" of the Hutt had been getting gas at a cheap fate at the expense of the workers of Petone. It was most regrettable that such an attempt at raising the cry of class distinction should have been made, for it was utterly unjustified, and there had been no attempt to prove its justice. On the'contrary, the Petone Council had made a direct profit out of the Hutt supply in the early part of the contract, and later, in spite of .the increased price of. coal, had still made an indirect profit by_ 'being relieved of the cost of distribution of a large part of the output. ■ / ;' Mr: Riahworth proceeded through a detailed history of the negotiations between the councils, outlined ,the respective futile offers, summarised the judgment of the Chief Justice, who had declared that the Hutt Council had no right to increase its payment for gas unless its ratepayers were thereby benefited, and sketched the dispute over the pressare of supply. He declared that the ( position had been befogged by the Petone Council's defective system of accounting, and by ite paying for development and renewals out of revenue, which had left the Petono Council without a reserve to meet fluctuations of profit and loss. Recent remarks on the subject by th«, Mayor,' of Petone (Mr. J. W. M'Ewan) were analysed and severely criticised. Mr.. Rishworth said it had often been said that Lower Hutt had no concern with the profits that Petone had made; and if that was so, neither should it be asked to share the losses. Referring to the proposal that the Lower Hutt should take over a half- I share of the present works, the speaker said that Petone claimed the value of the works to be £50,000. To the half of this must be added £12,500, being naif ths cost of improvements declared by the Mayor of Petone to be necessary, and also the cost of improved reticulation in Lower Hutt, making £47,500 — nearly as much as the estimated cost of th« new works, including the same reticulation in the borough. j Commenting on a remark about amalgamation of the two boroughs., Mr. Rishworth said that when he first came to the district he had thought the amalgamation desirable; but any idea of it had now been squeezed out of him by the continued ill-feeling between the northern and southern ends of the valley. Amalgamation proposals now needed to be very carefully examined; he suspected them of beins 'I red herrings" designed to lead Lower Hutt towards acceding to the terms which Petone laid down.

Mr. Rishworth went on to explain in detail the exhaustive report prepared for the Lower Hutt Council by Mr. Ford in favour of the establishment of an up-to-date gasworks operating with continuous vertical retorts to produce 18,000 cubic feet of gas per ton of coal carbonised. (This report was the basis of a committee report already published in summary.) !

Mr. For.d enlarged on certain aspects of the report, and at the request of the Mayor emphasised that his estimates did not omit, as the Mayor of Petone had alleged, interest, depreciation, and other standing caoital charges. These were all allowed for, with other necessary charges, even to the coke necessary for starting the works. Defending the ver-tical-retort system, he said that it was being installed at Nivpier (where it would be operating next month), Palmerston North, and Wellington. The gas production in these retorts was much larger in bulk than in the horizontal or inclined retorts, and by the admission of steam could be raised to as high as 25,000 cubic feet per ton of coal, with a consumption of coke equal to 12j per cent, of the weight of the coal carbonised. There was no doubt at all that the output of 18,000 cubic feet per ton could be reached.

When the addresses were finished, several of those present submitted questions. One was as to the relative cost # of the gasworks and the proposed hydroelectric scheme. Mr. Rishworth replied that the gasworks would cost approximately £65^000, and the hydro-electric scheme £60,000; but pointed out that the gas supply must go on. If the new works were not built and the borough purchased a half-share of the Petone works the total cost would be, roughly £48,000. ,

Enlarging on the necessity for a better gas supply, Mr. Ford said that everywhere that gas was in competition with electricity, without exception, the demand for gas went on increasing. It was so even in Toronto, where the electrical power of Niagara was available, to say nothing of Wellington and Christchurch. There weroy twenty-seven muni-

cipal gas undertakings in New Zealand; he had not heard of a single failure. On the contrary, they were,in all cases reliable sources of revenue.

Various proposals were put. to the meeting, but only one—that for a prompt poll on the raising of a loan, moved by Mr. Willis, received any support, and on being put to the vote it was carried unanimously.