The Times TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1943. The Electricity Industry

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 57, 9 March 1943, Page 4

The Times TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1943.

The Electricity Industry

Of all public developments none lias brought more-credit to this country than the electricity industry, and that this should be so, is due above all to the power boards system. There is not another country in the world more completely electrified than New Zealand. And only in two provinces elsewhere in the world would there be an electrification so complete as is generally found in New Zealand, these being Toronto in Canada and Lombardy in Italy. Certain Swedish areas might also be included. The great expansion of the electrical service in New Zealand dates back to about 20 years ago, since when there has been a truly phenomenal growth and one that still continues. Statistics recently published give comparisons for the three years 1940, 1941, and 1942. Throughout there are recorded notable advances. Wo have now 98 generating establishments which produced last year 1183 units per head of population. And there is recorded ail increase of 12 per cent, upon two years earlier. Invested in electricity supply undertakings is the great sum of £44,110,000, and good returns are made from this. The annual turnover of the industry, measured in wholesale value, was £8,253,000, closely rivalling that of the railways which have almost twice the capital investment. Electricity serves our people in two fields. firstly, as a power for production and, secondly, as a servant to make life more enjoyable. In the latter field there is a service given by way of cooking in almost one-quarter of New Zealand’s homes and the total number of consumers about equals the number of houses throughout the Dominion. It is unfortunate that an industry with such a splendid record should be under a threat, yet such is the case. The Minister of Public Works has been suggesting that the Government should take over the distribution of electricity now carried out by power boards and city authorities. No sensible reason could be possibly advanced in favour of such a change: It would serve but one purpose, and that would be to place more power in the hands of politics. Inevitably the public would suffer for this. A change that could be well made would be to take away from political control that part of the industry now managed by the Public Works Department as just one of its activities. This Department constructs hydro-electric stations, the great trunk lines that wholesale the electricity out to local authorities and so acts as manufacturer and wholesaler, the local authorities being the retailers. The suggested improvement is that a commission should be set up for each island, elected by the power authorities, and that these commissions should take over from the Public Works the generation and distribution systems, their financing and their future development. Thus the electricity undertakings of the country would be completely divorced from political control. Electricity now plays so large a part iu the national life that no risk should be taken of jeopardising this service. It will play an ever larger part in the future wellbeing of our country Our land is not richly supplied with other resources apart from ‘‘whitecoal,’' i.e., waterpower. Our coal supplies are not illimitable. To a very considerable extent, the future of our secondary industries will be determined bv a plenitude of cheaply provided electric powen There is a much better prospect of this being made avail able by commissions as suggested than under Public Works control.