The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, March 6th, 1937. CHANGE IN GREY POWER SUPPLY.

Grey River Argus, 6 March 1937, Page 8

The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, March 6th, 1937. CHANGE IN GREY POWER SUPPLY.

The decision that electrical supply shall in this as in so many other parts of the country be henceforth a State, undertaking had already been indicated. Thus the fact that negotiations are now being completed to give effect to this decision will occasion no great surprise in the district. Allowing that the hydro scheme here has until recently met requirements, it 'is acknowledged that it can do so no longer. It had, in fact, become for tha Board a matter of turning down industrial demand and facing completion within its area by a supply from elsewhere. The needs of the gold mining industry further south in Westland had convinced the Government that electricity had to be brought from the East Coast if the country and the district were not to lose what doubtless will prove to be a valuable development of industry. No doubt the latest expansion of mining ventures in this district has been occasioned by the knowledge that the requisite power would be obtainable from the service extension on which the Government has embarked. The Power Board’s scheme has run already into a large sum of money, and it there were to be an expansion of capacity to double the present volume, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the additional outlay would open up the possibility of ultimate rating liability. This, . of course, would be in the event of the additional load proving of a less lasting character than a good deal of the present load. That possibility would naturally induce the Board to seek rather a bulk load from the State service than to embark on the outlay required to double present capa- 1 , City. On the other hand, it is not only the policy of this Government to make the production of electricity of State enterprise, but in practice, if not in theory, it was the policy of the last Government, as also of ear Her ones. From all accounts, the present hydro plant is in need of considerable immediate ex penditure for maintenance, and its operation has not been entirely free from anxiety. NeveF lheless it is a very valuable inslallalion, and should be assessed very highly by the Public Works

Department when the financial and other arrangements come to be completed with the Board. It may be utilised partly as a stand by in future. In any case, under State operation, the supply system of the district should certainly be free from any uncertainty, when there are available the "great resources of the East Coast installations at Coleridge and Waitaki. This district would be warranted in expecting,, after the loan liability attaching to that portion of the scheme passing to the State, is taken over by the latter, that it would get at the present cost at least as much power as is being at present.pro 1 duced here, with the additional current priced at the Govern ment standard rate. The consumers also ought to be warranted in looking for a general tariit no higher than that on the East Coast. After all, the main thing is the adequate supply of economic electricity. Whether the generation is a local or a national work is quite secondary. So little of the Dominion is now supplied otherwise than by the State that considerations of uniformity, economy and efficiency all combine to indicate that local must everywhere give place to national production.