PETONE, AND HUTT GAS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 28, 2 August 1927, Page 8

PETONE, AND HUTT GAS

(To the Editor.)

. ? lL"'~At the Present moment the most interesting question in Lower Hutt is, V i rre T>'e Soing'/to do about the gas? And L have been asked by a number ot ratepayers to. give my opinion on. the question. I find it impossible to give an answer until the board places on the table all their cards fane up. This, I think, they are afraid to do, owing to the obsolete condition of the works. The boards balance-sheet, dated 31st March 1927, showed, amongst other items, the tallowing: Authorised loans, £64,441; Bank ? f t ? c, w 1 ?.ealand' £W. 932 19s 8d; or a total liability of £84,423 19s Bd. As an asset they show an obsolete gasworks and plant, mams, service, and meters, valued at £83,409 as,-and land £1094, the total 7, ,-2 £ which is £8*.503 ss. (Compare the difierences between the value ot the liabilities and assets.) The board supplies gas at the rate of lOs lOd per thousand feet, with a discount of about 25 per cent. The question is, what will be the cost of gas if we authorise them to raise a loan or get. gas from Wellington? Can the board give this information? The chairman of the board stated at the Lower Hutt Council meeting, that to put the present works in order, it would be necessary to raise at least £100,000, and if we obtained gas from Wellington we would have to raise a loan of £57:000. As the interest on these loans would have to be charged to the consumer, the question is, what is to be the price cf gas in the future? Another question that is being asked is, who is responsible for the Hutt ratepayers buying into a gas concern which is declared obsolete after working for about five years?—l am, etc, T _ H. BALDWIN. Lorrcr Hutt, Ist August.