ELECTRICAL ENERGY

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 306, 29 November 1927, Page 10

ELECTRICAL ENERGY

POWERS OF THE BOARDS.

THE AMENDING BILL

Speaking in the House of Representatives on the second rending of the Electric Power • Boards Bill, Sir J. A. Nash (Palmerston) said: On! behalf of the Power Boards Association I desire to thank the Minister for bringing down legislation this session. After the last conference we had the privilege of extending to the executive of the association of meeting the Minister and the chief electrical engineer in conference to discuss resolutions carried at the conference. It is true that wo have not succeeded in obtaining everything we wished ineierted in the bill, _ but a j great deal has been done to improve : the position of the boards and for that I wish to thank the Minister on behalf of the Association. One important clause was mentioned by the hon. member for Invercargill, namely, that relating to members of a board being unseated because they are interested in contract® made with the board. Provision had heen made in the bill to meet the position. Personally, I agree with the hon. gentleman’s remark that the provision should be extended to local bodies throughout the Dominion. We know that there are many men who are willing to give service, but they have been hampered under the present conditions, and I quite agree with the member for Inv'ereargill that tli.ey should bo extended. I wish to bring under the notice of the Minister clause 17, the provisions of which I am afraid,' will make difficulties and inconveniences for the power boards. We have always had the privilege of supplying electrical appliances and equipment, and generally fixing up the home and the farm without any difficulty with regard to the charge on the land—the security has been there. I admit that there have been cases where properties have changed hands from time to time, and in some cases it lias iprobably inflicted hardship oil (the mortgagee, who lias probably advanced too much money and- then finds tlie land saddled with these charges. Under clause 17 the Power Board will have to consult the mortgagee or mortagees, before* it can supply the necessary fittings. An hon. member: Why notr Mr Nash: I am not saying that the mortgagee should [Hot bo consulted; lam 6aying that-it will mean a good deal of inconvenience to the power boards because no one m the future will bo able to have lus home or farm fitted with electrical appliances if he happens to have a mortgage on his property until the Power Board has communicated with the mortgagee to know whether he approves. A man may have property of the value of, say, £2,000 which which is subject to a mortgage of ioUU; knowing what the farmers passed through last year, it is highly improbable that such a man will have money available to fit up his house or farm witli electrical equipment, "'men would cost anything from £3O to £oU. That would mean that the mortgagee would have to be applied to, and if ho objected to the expenditure the .fittings could not be installed so that until the farmer could find the money himself he would be able to make no progress so far as electrical supply was concerned. The whole point is that the mortgagee would have to be consulted. . ■ ~ , An hon. member: That would not entail any trouble. Mr Nash: But there might be two or three mortgagees, and they would all have to be consulted. I lie charge must be put on the land because power boards cannot take the risk of fitting up properties unless they have securitv for the outlay incurred. We do not want the supply held up. , , ~ Mr H. E. Holland: Have not the power boards agreed to the bill. .'Mr, Nfisli: Not to 'this clausfc. Personally, I can see that there mil be trouble so far as the boards are concerned. If the Minister decides to go on with it the mortgagee will have to he consulted. In most cases, where there is any doubt about the pbrson who makes the application where he has a large mortgage on the farm, the mortgagee is always written to first bv the board and his consent is asked for. Clause 16 is I think, in connection with the removal of private telephone wires; and there have been a good many private telephone wires removed.. This clause provides that—“Section ninetyfour of the principal Act is hereby amended as from the first day of January 1927, by omitting the words or suffering any damage from the exercise of any of the powers hereby given’ and substituting the words and every person suffering any damage whatever from the exercise of any the powers conferred by this Act, i propose to ask the Minister, when we get into committee, whether lie will amend that slightly, whether he wifi make that operative from the Ist June, instead of the Ist January. I think that wijl meet with the approval ot the power boards generally. There is one other matter that I am sorry the Minister lias not provided for in- the bill: It is in reference to the liability of power boards in connection with the cutting down of trees. Quite recently there was a. case in Christchurch in which a power board had • judgment given against it, and the judgment was considered to be an unreasonable one too. Power boards take every care as a rule. In fact, instead of calling upon the people to remove, the trees, the majority of the boards —I believe practically all of them —send round their own staffs to do the work. In addition, if anv fences are broken or damaged as a result of that work, they are repaired at the expense of the boards. Mr Campbell: Not always. Mr Nash: Well, generally speaking. ' . ■ Mr Campbell: Occasionally. , Mr Nash: I will not say that that applies in the case of every power board. I will put it this way—that the majority of the boards follow the practice. I know that the power board I represent is a fairly large one, and it i has never yet called upon the owner of the land to repair any of the fences himself. Everything has been done by the board, it does not matter what it has been; and I think it is quite a reasonable action to take. It is only right that ‘the farmers should have that consideration. lam sure that when the hori. member for Hawke’s Bay rises to speak, he will be able to give us a good deal of information about the damage that is done in Hawke’s Bay and not' attended to. However, I am sorry the Minister has not been able to include in the bill provision in accordance with that remit that was submitted to him by the conference in reference to treecutting. I want to thank him for having brought down the bill, and I am sure it will be appreciated by the power boards in general.