Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1910. STATE OR PRIVATE ENTERPRISE ?

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 16 August 1910, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1910. STATE OR PRIVATE ENTERPRISE ?

IN placing- the bare intention of the Cuvernnien.f in regard to the development of New Zealand'.'; water power before tile House iif K.;ne>enta.ti\•<.«. the Hun. R. .MeKen/.ie. Minister fin- I'ubiic Works and Mines, was rarel'nl first of all tu l'el'er tn the n unlit :• ills .prevailing ill America, where i'nr the nie-t pa it trusihave secured po.-.ses.-ioii ol Uli.- great Ha ti<:!i:il asset. lie pnintid -out. and .-jniie rightly ton. tile loss the people of New Zealand would sustain if ;i .similar state it' a Hairs were brought about in the Do minimi. And to prevent anything ol' this u.it lire i.n'Mi ring Hie I iovei umcnl intended to develop tile wnler power ol' the river*. Hut surely .such drastic action is 11 unecessary ? Surely the Hon. !-:. M 'Keii/.ie's predecessor did not contemplate .-aci dicing the interests ~£ j.] 1( . people to .-uch an extent when, in 1008. i : n moving tin' second reading- o!' (lie Public Work.- Amendment Dill", he ;- a id I did hone some few \e;irs ago (hat the Slate wind be able (o utilise this -j.-tat i'-n-u I've, the a-haul-

aue of the people of the Dominion, hut linn, members' will realise that when we have f» much other important work in hand —railway extension, am! the reading .and bridging of the country —we cannot spare tin; means at present, which would eirtbie'us t<j utilise this great force, and -i) that it may not lie idh: for any further period" this Bill is introduced.

Sir John JTn 11-Jones, and others favourable, to private enterprise did not. and do not. for one moment, contemplate yielding up in toto the interests ■of the States in the water power of the Dominion. If the bmreys raised by the present Minister for Public Works had the least importunity to thrive in New Zealand there would be hardly a man willing to yield one fraction of the State's right. All agreements;, contemplated by those favourable to private enterprise, contain, as a fundamental principle, the right of the State to step ill. in a certain time to be muttiallv agreed upon, and buy the plant and property at a valuation. A ca.se in .point is where, in the provisions of the Bill mentioned above, the W'aihi Gold Mining Company .put into execution its longstanding desire to utilise the waters of the Hora Ilora Falls for the generation of electric- power for the working of the mine. Surely the interests of the State were adequately preserved in the following conditions?—

The Company was empowered to take water "to the extent" of 10.000 horse-power for 42 voars without the option of renewal, at 3s per horsepower per annum, the Government reserving the right to take -over its installation at any time at a valua tion and without paying anything for goodwill.

It is many years since the Government first handled the question ©f the utilisation of the water power of the rivers. Mr. Seddon was quite as eloquent as the Hen. R. M'Kenzic was. the other day. in s.oeaking of "conserving the rights of tTic people." etc. ; but the years pa-spd without anything of a definite nature being done, 'except that experts of all descriptions were engaged, and they presented voluminous reports on the various rivers. As stated above, two years ago the Government decided in favour of private- enterprise : and so the decision come to this year marks the third arrived at by the Government in recent yea-rs. A reasonable objection that could be raised against private control t- that possibly the price to be paid for power would be so high as to exploit the general public in the interests of a few : ■but this could be met by limiting the price that could be charged by the companies. The quest ion for the Govern-

anent should be. Is meney more urgeiuly needed for other puipo-HS? Surely momv is .still required for the public works mentioned by Mr. Hall-Jones in 1908. and the Government i- 1 no better able to borrow another half-million now than it was then. Only the other day the Prime -Minister, in reply to a deputation urging the speedy completion of the South island Main Trunk lin. said :

It would be butter, as a matter of commercial policy, to finish the line in twelve months because the sooner it were finished the -sooner it would be. paying. 'file wisdom of this statement is apparent, and so long as the interests of the State are adequately- conserved better results will accrue from allowing piivate enterprise to develop the water powers of the rivers until the countrv is better provided with railways and roads in the backblocks which are so nece.-sary for the development of our .natural resources, and play -so important a part in the bringing into profit large trad* of now practically waste lauds.