"AS MUCH POWER, BUT LESS LAW.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 19 July 1929, Page 9

"AS MUCH POWER, BUT LESS LAW.”

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l was pleased, to see in the Press that at the sitting of the Borough Council Mr. • Walkley made it clear that the council did not express themselves one way or the other re the Power Board. Well, the time is getting close when people will have to vote one way or the other, and while 1 have the greatest respect for the South Taranaki Board 1 cannot see myself voting for a, £200,000 loan to get something we already have Had we no light or power then I would say “vote,” but when it is only a question of a possible few shillings saving in price to each one, and 1 see no forecast of much lower prices, then wliy place another mortgage on our land. People may say it is ignorance on my part, but there i.s an old saying “A burnt dog dreads the fire.” Well, the North Taranaki Power Board burnt me, with the. result that I am faced with a £2(> rate. Of course, we are now using range, water-lieater, light, etc., but where shall we come in in another two or three years, when a general rate will perhapis be struck ?' Now J do not think for one moment that 1 South Taranaki is going to pan out like that, but I can’t help thinking that the demand, at any rate in Waimate, for power and heat is overestimated. for this reason : Many people have installed water-power and got a good class of engine, and they are not going to scrap them for years to come. There is also another thing; there are quite a lot of eases where it would not pay to run a wire, but if a person is a ratepayer he has a perfect moral right to get it. Why could not the board come to terms for, say, five years on terms to be arranged ? There could be no great loss, and in these times of ;so many changes there may he many improvements. In any case, Mr. Walkley states the preliminary expenses at about £IO,OOO. Saying that the company’s expenses are the same, some people must have struck a fine couple of milkers, and I can hardly think they are dry yet ; there should be a drop more milk left. But just think what even £20,000 would have done, and we would still have the power but rather less law.—l am, etc., OLD FARMER.

P.S.—Had the £20,000 or so been spent in super, at £4 17s 6d per ton, equal to 4000 tons, instead of law, we should have seen something for it.