LAND ON RIVER BANK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22197, 26 August 1935, Page 13

LAND ON RIVER BANK

GOVERNMENT SEEKS OPTIONS WAIKATO POWER SCHEME [from our own correspondent] CAMBRIDGE, Saturday Since the publication of the fact that surveys and other activities were being carried out by the Public Works Department on the banks of the Waikato River, four miles from Cambridge, it is learned on reliablo authority that Government officials have been endeavouring to obtain options over parts of certain properties on both the Maungatautari and Karapiro banks of the river. It was suggested three weeks ago that the Government had in mind the building of a new hydro-clcctric plant at some future date at this point, where the Waikato narrows in and flows between outcrops of solid rock. The chief electrical engineer of the Public Works J)epartment, Mr. F. T. M. Kissel, interviewed in Wellington, said, while the project had been under consideration by the department for some time, investigation work would probably continue for another two or three years before any construction work would bo considered. A statement was made subsequently by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. J. Bitchener, who said the surveys had no immediate connection with future hydro-electric development. The Minister, however, did not deny that at some future date such work would be undertaken. . So far as can bo ascertained, the property owners concerned aro showing some reluctance to grant options to the Government. Quarrying rights are also involved, and it has been suggested that the matter may have to go to arbitration for final settlement. Mr. F. Lye, M.P. for Waikato, who leaves for Wellington on Sunday, stated in an interview that he intended investigating the position as far _as possible, both from tho point ot view of a Government undertaking, and also in the interests of tho landowners m the vicinity of the proposed scheme.