MINISTERIAL VISIT

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 8 April 1919, Page 4

MINISTERIAL VISIT

SIR TV. FRASER AND MR GUTHRIE

A LARGE DEPUTATION

t, H,° n\£ ir William Fraser, Minister of Public Works, and Hon. D. H. Guthrie Minister of Lands, arrived in Taranaki by the mail train last night. At Strattord they were met by deputations comprising about fifty representatives of Taranaki local bddies and chambers of commerce on matters of interest to the district. There were also present: Messrs S. G. Smith (M.P. for Taranaki), G. V. Pearce (M.P. for Patea), and W. T. Jennings (M.P. for Taumarunui). Mr J. W. McMillan (Mayor of Stratford) spoke of the importance of a hydro-electric supply to Taranaki. The deputation wished to know definitely when Taranaki would be linked up with the Government scheme, as if they | could not obtain a. supply from the Government within a reasonable time it meant that the whole of the Taranaki counties and boroughs would have to go in for a scheme at great expense, and it would have to be more or less abandoned when the Government scheme came through. Other speakers were Messrs C. H. Burgess (Mayor of New Plymouth), T. B. Crump (Mayor of Eltham), T. McPhiilips (Waimate County), W R. Wright (Egmont County), J. B. Murdoch (Hawera County), R. Morgan (Mayor of Waitara), and G. V. Pearce, M.P. The Minister of Public Works', in his reply, stated that he was fully aware of the importance of disseminating a supply of electrical power all through the North Island as early as possible. Experiments were now being made with the foundations of the dam for the Waikato scheme, and as soon as possible it was hoped to link up this scheme with the Mangahao scheme, and then supply Taranaki with electrical power. The Mangahao scheme, being the smaller one, would no doubt be completed first, and possibly might supply a part of Taranaki. Under normal conditions the schemes should be linked up in four or five years. Hon. Mr Guthrie also spoke, stating that no one was more earnest in the matter than Sir William Fraser and his colleagues. STRATFORD-OKAHUKTJRA RAILWAY. Replying to representations on this matter, the Minister of Public Works said he hoped that by the time Parliament met men would be available, and he hoped to put a sum on the estimates to enable the line to be pushed through as speedily as possible. He also referred to the need for adopting an immigration policy to obtain men. OPUNAKE RAILWAY. Messrs McPhillips (Waimate) and W. R. Wright (Egmont) urged the claims of the Opunake railway. The Minister stated that the line should be completed to Opunake and continued around the coast. He was quite prepared to go on with the line to Opunake as soon as he could get a gang of men, and had given the En-gineer-in-Chief instructions to that effect some time ago.—Abridged from Taranaki News.