OTAGO POWER BOARD

Evening Star, Issue 20310, 19 October 1929, Page 9

OTAGO POWER BOARD

MANIOTOTO INSTALLATION WARNING FROM LAWRENCE DELIVERED The proposals of the Otago Bower Board in the matter of providing a service for Maniototo were discussed at Middlemarcli on Thursday evening, when a party from Lawrence, headed by Mr K. S. Thompson, of Wetherstones, counselled caution, citing the dissatisfaction among Lawrence people. As a result the following resolution was carried :— u That this meeting wire the chairman of the Loans Board to withhold his consent to the granting of the loan to the Otago Electric Power Board for installing electric power in the Maniototo area until the board’s estimates have been checked bv an independent engineer, a copy of this resolution to be sent to the Otago Electric Power Board.” Mr Thompson said that the object of the ratepayers in Lawrence was to avoid extra taxation as far as possible, and to help the- board to extricate itself from its difficulties. ■ For this purpose it was believed that an expert investigation would confer considerable benefit. The question of pooling of the rates was of secondary importance, and if the board’s service could bo made more attractive to consumers a great deal would, have been achieved. The Maniototo ratepayers were fortunate in that they had not yet accepted the proposals of the Otago Power Board, which seemed to have made such a dismal failure of its past operations. A perusal of the board’s bal-ance-sheet disclosed that a larger turnover had meant a larger loss. Whilst the 1927-23 trading account showed a deficit of £0,152, that of 1928-29 showed a deficit of £11,404. The 'aggregate deficiency on March 31 last was £22,748. The revenue received last year amounted to only 11.14 per cent, of the capital expenditure. Decently, he added, the board was placed in the undignified position of having to request one of its largest consumers to pay for a £4OO transformer, the payment of which was being met by way of rebate on the consumer’s power charges. The ratepayers of Maniototo might well hesitate before entrusting their capital to a board still composed of members responsible for those deplorable results.

The speaker said he proposed to indicate the result of the board’s proposals by a comparison with its results in tho Lawrence district. The board proposed to give a service of 650 consumers in the Maniototo district for an expenditure of £85,000. In the Lawrence area 600 consumers were supposed to be serviced for £31.000, but the actual result was that at a cost of £IO,OOO only 429 consumers had been connected up. Mr Thompson then analysed the board’s estimate of the revenue to be received from the scheme, and claimed that this had been overstated. Some assurance, he considered, should be given by the board that its proposed charges for power would not be increased after consumers availed themselves of the service. It would be advisable also to find out what amount the Maniototo ratepayers were to contribute to the board’s present overhead expenses and to the loss of the trading department. The Maniototo ratepayers might be well advised to cut adrift from a board that dealt in losses and rates, and make inquiries regarding the feasibility and the legality of putting in a power plant of their own, on the lines adopted by the Teviot Power Board. In linking up with tho Otago Power Board, the Maniototo ratepayers would he linking up with a board which had heavy losses to face, and which would be confronted with heavy losses ’ for some time. They received a good service in Lawrence, but they realised that it was a dear service—clearer than they were told it would be, and, in addition, they were being rated. One man in the district, from whom the board received a revenue’ of £SO, had been called upon to pay £44 in rates, and there was a prospect that he would have to pay £IOO in rates for several years. A neighbour of his, on the other hand, who had given a guarantee of £3O a year, was rated at 8s Gd, which would never increase beyond £1 Is—yet he received the board’s services. Another neighbour, who was to liny £l3 in rates, had no service, and no prospects of obtaining one. Tho speaker went on to quote several examples. which, he said, indicated wasteful and extravagant expenditure on the part of the board. A line had been extended for ftne mile and threequarters to Forsyth, and had ended on a post on the roadside, without having given service to one consumer. Further. the power which it was proposed to supply to Maniototo would be Government power, which, the board had stated, would cost more than the power received at present from the Dunedin t'ity Corporation. It was obvious that there was a great need for caution. In conclusion, Mr Thompson said that when the resolutions were carried at tho meeting in Lawrence on September 21. demanding an investigation of the board’s affairs, the idea was not to broadcast tho board’s blunders. Ft was to help the board to a sounder position. He himself had aired his views in the Press in order to rouse tho ratepayers. He honestlv regretted the necessity of having to write at all, or of having to address public meetings, but there seemed to he nothin" else for it. If tho Lawrence ratepayers had thought the board was doing its best for the whole district there would have been no complaints. But it was believed that the hoard could do better than it was doing, and that was the reason for the movement which was now on foot.