POWER BOARD RIGHTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 December 1936, Page 14

POWER BOARD RIGHTS

EXTENSION OF LINES [PEB PRESS ASSOCIATION.] GISBORNE, December 19. The question of giving power boards authority’ to extend lines into outlying areas without satisfactory guarantees and the question of subsidising both capital and revenue expenditure in lieu of guarantees were for the Government* to decide, said the chairman (Mr. F. R. Ball) at a meeting of the Poverty Bay Power Board. "Doubtless, the advisability or otherwise of erecting these uneconomic lines will first be considered in reference to the demand for further reticulation in Southland, where the State is in full control,” he said. "Southland now presents a very interesting situation, in that the avowed policy of the Minister for Publilc Works is similar to the initial policy of the Southland Board, which policy brought disaster to the Board. The Southland Board set out to give electric service to every person in Southland. It built miles of uneconomic lines, and later pulled down miles of these lines, which would not pav even operating cost. Southland settlers in outlying districts are again looking for electricity to be brought to their homes. The Government is not bound by statute or regulations, but has the Government unlimited finances to carry out the work? Will it re-erect these lines that have been pulled down, and will it erect other lines at heavy loss to give an electricity supply to individuals, while thousands of our poorer people in towns and thickly populated areas cannot avail themselves of the benefits of electric supply at their doors, owing to the high initial cost of installing the requisite appliances in their homes?” "1 have brought this matter forward because in recent months there seems to have been a tendency to emphasise every minor trouble experienced by power authorities and to ignoie not only the statutory obligations of boards, but also the great amount of good development work carried-out by them,” concluded Mr. Ball.