ELECTRIC POWER SHORTAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23969, 20 May 1941, Page 6

ELECTRIC POWER SHORTAGE

Although the Auckland ElectricPower Board is hopeful that it will be able to get through the winter without having to impose restric- ■ tions on the consumption of power, I its discussion of the position yestei'- ! day shows that there is no guaranJ tee against the development of a j shortage. The board itself is in no ! way to blame. The Government has ! manifestly under estimated the i growth in the demand for power; j it has taken inadequate steps to relate the supply of power and the J provision of imported equipment to ! its plans for housing construction | and industrial development ; and it I has been culpably negligent in its failure to ensure that sufficient j stocks of coal are at the disposal of the emergency steam plants. The result is that the Auckland board has been asked to restrict the increase in its load to a figure only 2i per cent in excess of that which obtained last winter. It has already been suggested that steps may have to be taken to limit the use of the more extravagant forms of household electrical appliances in order to reduce the domestic load. But in times like the present it is the industrial load that counts. Our war effort on the factory front is not yet so remarkable that we can afford to have it reduced by a shortage of power. The statement has been made that if sufficient coal was available for the King's Wharf station there would be no necessity for any cut in local power supplies. Here is a challenge to the Government t-o exercise what authority it may have with the miners.