Kaikohe’s Electricity

Northern Advocate, 21 December 1939, Page 4

Kaikohe’s Electricity

WE wish to offer our congratulations to the people of Kaikohe upon the fact that their important and thriving town and district are now connected with the electricity supply generated at Arapuni. The ceremony of officially switching on the power took place on Tuesday evening. This occasion will be recorded in future years as one of the red letter events in the history of Northland. Some Kaikohe people have enjoyed the boon of electricity for a considerable time past, but that has been due to the installation of small plants. Now, however, power is available to all who want it, and it is to be expected that town and district will accelerate the already creditable speed at whiclj development has taken place during recent years. . . The reticulation of the Middle North is a matter in which all Northlanders should be interested, for the success of one district necessarily promotes the success of other districts. < As a result of the stretching northwards of electricity reticulation, there is to be seen a quickening of interest in land development. The lack of electricity has constituted a handicap to the development of Northland, which has had to watch other less favourably situated territories grow simply because they possessed the convenience of electric power whereas Northland did not. , , That handicap is being rapidly overcome, and, as evidenced by the switching on ceremony at Kaikohe on Tuesday evening, Northland is now coming into its own. Kaikohe is a prominent feature of Northland, and the large and fertile area of which it is the centre is destined to contribute very substantially to the wealth of the Dominion. In view of that fact, it is a real pleasure to learn that there has been brought to the area the electric boon which brings comfort and prosperity in its train.