POWER BOARD CHAIRMAN REPLIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 19 July 1929, Page 4

POWER BOARD CHAIRMAN REPLIES.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The published reports of the last meeting of the Hawera Borough Council disclose a statement to the effect that- the chairman of the Power Board had stated publicly that the council had approved of the board’s scheme, whereas the council had -consented only to application being made to the Loans Board. May I clear this up, as there is obviously some 'confusion? What the five local bodies were asked to do was to consent to the board completing the purchase. The local bodies were not asked to consent to the application being made to the Loans Board. The local bodies were not asked whether they approved or disapproved of the scheme. They were expressly told that the giving of the consent to the Power Board completing the purchase did not commit them in any way to any obligation present or future, and that it did not in any way dispense with the necessity for a poll -of the ratepayers. What happened at the various local body meetings appeared in the .daily papers. As to the recent, ratepayers’ meeting, I think the most- regrettable incident is the raising of the town versus country question We should all have a wider vision than that. Mr E. I\. Cameron apparently would favour the purchase if it were being made iby the Hawera Borough Council, while Mr Dixon said Whatever we do should be done in the best interests of Hawera. The Power Board’s aim is progress for the whole of South Taranaki, with town and country linked for the common benefit. In any case the right -to purchase contained in the company’s private Act of Parliament was given to the Hawera and 'Waimate West -Counties, Hawera Borough, and the Manai'a and Normanby Town Districts.

Before leaving this -topic, I would like to -mention the rateable capital value of the five constituent districts under the jurisdiction- of the Power Board. These are:—

(1) Hawera County £2,401,066 (2) Waimate West County £2,095,245 (3) Hawera Borough ..... £1,654,833 (4) Manaia Town District £105,011 (5) Normanby Town Dist. . £56,174 Total Capital Value .... £6,312,329 Now, in regard to the Waimate West, it has been stated that the company could get a license to reticulate this area. This is not so. In the first place the company has an -area of supply defined by its statute, and -cannot supply current outside that statutory area. The unretieulated area -of Waimate West is not included in the company’s area. In the second place the Power Board holds a license over the unreticulated -area in the Waimate West, and will see that the people there get the current they are waiting for. In the third place, it would not be lawful for the Power Board to license the company for five or ten years as has bec-n suggested. By the way, on looking over some recent copies of the papers, it is fairly obvious that at least -one of the Power Board’s opponents has been using more than one pen name. * ‘Pioneer Ratepayer,” writing to the “News” of June .24, frankly admits(in reply to a question by Mr Bane on this subject) that he wrote a letter signed “Pioneer” and another signed “Ratepayer.” “ Ratepayer ’ again had I a letter in the “Star’ of Juno 10, which was obviously the same as one signed “’Caution ” in the “News”- of that date. Apparently the idea is to give the impression that four different people were writing, whereas there is only one. Is “Ratepayer,” alias -“Pioneer,” alias “'Caution, ’ alias “Pioneer Ratepayer” game to come out into the open and admit his identity?—l am, etc..

J. B. MURDOCH, ■Chairman South Taranaki Power Board. Hawera, July 18, 1929.