STREET LIGHTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21115, 24 February 1932, Page 12

STREET LIGHTING.

Sir, —Mr. Hartley's report to the Auckland Power' Board on the question of street lighting may be satisfactory to the Power Board, but will hardly bo so, 1 imagine, to the local bodies who aro called on to pay charges so much in excess of what are paid elsewhere. As an outsider, 1 can, of course, say nothing about the detail charges on each lamp; that depends on what proportion of the total charges Mr. Bart'icy decides to make agaiiist this particular item. When, however, ho refers to the fact that the council agreed to pay the price lie quoted and instructed him to proceed, he is begging the whole question. At that time Mr. Bartlev knew something of what street lights should cost. Councillors knew nothing, and to say now that they made a bargain and should stick to it savours of Shy lock. The Abstract of Statistics for December, 1931, gives the comparative costs of fuel and light in the four cities of New Zealand, and taking the average annual expenditure of 25 towns from 1926 to 1930 as a base of 1000, the charge in Auckland is 1107, in Wellington 956, in Christchurch 994, in Duncdin 892. '1 he function of a public body such as the Auckland Electric-Power Board is not to make money, but to render service. The discrepancy" in the above figures would load one 'to suspect that this had been overlooked. S. Gray.