TARIKI POWER SCHEME.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 17 February 1928, Page 10

TARIKI POWER SCHEME.

MEETING AT OARDJFF. j REPLY TO THE CHAIRMAN. At Cardiff on Wednesday night a 1 reply was made by Mr N. H. Moss to the statement made by the chairman of - the Taranaki Power J3oard vMr H. G. ] Orman) and a motion was carried as i under: “That this meeting demands oi the ; Taranaki Power Board a statement ms l ti> why power can no longer be supplied '• r ,* the New Plymouth Borough Ooun- < oil ” 1 There was a good attends%ice of rate- ■ payers and Mr H. Merchant. was voted to the chair. - lii opening his- address, Mr Moss < claimed that the chairman had shown inaccuracy in liis summing up of the ; “so-called charges” made and the mini- ■ her of (points to which no reply was ] given. He said that so far as he count ’ recollect, he made no charges of i liavagance ’ nor “incompetence”- in hiremarks, but confined himself to an , analysis of the board’s position based on figures. Mr Moss said that there were five statements made by him and one by another speaker, to -.which Mr Carman i had made no reply. He says he made no apology for taking up. the case for ' the reason stated against him that he ; was not a ratepayer, because he was [t: yincr to assist the cause of the ratepayers. He claimed that the chairman I with all the knowledge of the position 'of the hoard' and with the assistance of the experts, put forward no constructive policy to meet the seriousness of the position. The chairman, said Mr Moss, stated . that a revenue of £4OOO wijuld be ! necessary before a general rate could [be avoided and he said he could not j s.;e how such a revenue could be exi peeted for years to come. He added ! that he had* no means of checking the statement of the chairman that the board’s revenue could he brought to a payable point and would be only too Had to find that this consummation could be reached. An accurate gauging of the board’s resources and the districi revenue, he said, was necessary to secure a sound basis of policy. Mr Moss dealt with the matter o ' commission stated by Mr Carman to have been paid on the Lake Coleridge scheme,, and the Minister’s denial, but the chairman, lie said, had not seen fit jto correct his statement. He aiso 1 criticised the contract made by the : | hoard with the engineers and added that •; the employment of consulting engineer--1 jto check estimates was useless, because i • hey were based on the data supplied ’(by the resident experts. Air Moss cri--1 ! ticised the chairman for directing the J! consulting engineers not to concern themselves with the question of the probable load nor the commercial aspeci ‘ of the venture. Mr Moss drew attention also to the ’ failure of the board to make no detailed statement of the cost of the works 00. V that “the works had been com- ’ pleted so far as the ratepayers are aware for many months.” ; He referred also to the statement ‘ that balance-sheets could not be pubc lished until audited, but said that figures could lie given showing a sums niary of the net expendiure. of the e board on the scheme. He stated again that full information should be * given by the board to ratepayers liefore any loan i.s authorised by the ' Local Bodies Loan Board. Mr. Moss referred, to the effectiveness of the availability rate in forcing | a demand for power, but says that I this “does not entirely dispose of the fairness of the board’s rating policy, ’’ which was to use the availability rate l> - to make nn such a large deficiency, " instead of spreading part of the burs den over the wliole district, and to use the availability rate in a more r reasonable manner to a Ttieve the object of forcing a demand for power. It is safe to assume, that the availability r i-ate has caused the major portion of , the possible consumers to take power. and that those who have not joined ) up under such pressure have good reat sons for doing so.”

Mr. Moss said that Mr. 'Carman made no reply to his statement that the revenue required would increase in the future because more loan money had been added to the total expenditure and that £2BOO liad been added to the annual expense during the past year. He added that he considered All,'. Carman was much too optimistic in his belief that revenue will be brought to a payable point. Mr. A loss concluded by saying: “Tire boa nl’s scheme having been found wanting on its first trial, it is plain that the prospects of the sale of l>ower to other districts are very small. Confidence in the scheme’s ability to deliver the goods has gone If the board had 4000 li.p. nt all times, wet and dry, a constructive policy to solve the hoard’s financial difficulties' would not he difficult to formulate. Hut with only 2000 h.p. and interest and sinking fund charges •on £475,000 to pay, well if it were a private individual it would mean bankruptcy, or if it were a company it uoukl mean liquidation, hut being a (lower board it means rates —rates— rates.” Mr. Moss urged tiie strengthening of the Ratepayers’ Association, so that, its representations might have weight with the Government in any reform they desired to make. The formation of the association was strongly supported hv the chairman. Vr. C. .4. Miirchant. and Air. Hunt. Tt was understood that practically all ore-sent became members.