THE PRIME MINISTER

Evening Star, Issue 17922, 18 March 1922, Page 5

THE PRIME MINISTER

A VISIT TO LAKE TEKAPO,

. Mr Massey visited Lake Tokapo yesterday, accompanied by engineers of the Public Works Department. He was met there by about 300 representatives of the agricultural, pastoral, and industrial interests. The object of the invitation was to impress the Prime Minister with the potentialities of Tekapn as a. source of electricity, and to convince him that the reports of experts were correct, that Tokapo offers an easy, safe, and cheap source of power. After an inspection of tho river which it is proposed to harness details of the scheme, were explained, and a number of speakers expressed a strong desire that the Government should authorise the Provisional Power Board to proceed.

Mr Massey said the scheme seemed to him, as a layman, an excellent one, particularly as no darn was required. In his opinion there would bo no power available for South Canterbury from Lake Coleridge for the next fifteen or twenty years, as North Canterbury would want it all; but before he could say “Go ahead ” ho must consult his colleagues, and he promised to do tins as soon as possible. He imped to bo able, as the result of a consultation, to send a wire conveying a favorable reply. Mr Massey wont on to The Hermitage, and returned to Timaru to-day, catching the boat, in the evening for Wellington.