HYDRO ELECTRICITY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14038, 22 April 1920, Page 6

HYDRO ELECTRICITY.

To the Editor. —jn view of the fact that a public meeting is to be held in Oamarii shortly to consider the question or supporting the formation o£ a' Power Dis-trict-as outlined by the Otago Expansion League, I should like to offer a •Hioyestion as to how the scheme could,'., in "my opinion, be improved and consequently more assured of financial suc'it o-oes without saying that to have a, cheap supply of electric power available throughout North Otago would be of very great assistance in developing the whole district, and the sooner such is available the better, and for these reasons the utmost care must be exercised in taking the inll £ : ' oteps. To my mind the fatal yainess of the present proposal is that the areas of Dunedin, Green Island, at. Kiida. Port Chalmers. Mosgiel, V* est Harbor, are specifically excluded from the proposed rating area tor the Otago. District. And when it is pointed out that these towns have a population ot ■mnroN-imatch- 70,000, and the whole of the rest of Otago only 60,000, it will I think be conceded that there is littk likelihood of this minority of the population being able to finance such » di I .s"henie of development without grea-tlj enibarassing the individuals by an excessive rate. The likelihood is that when the loan proposals are submitted to the ratepayers they wil be compelled m self-defence to turn them down. By going on with the scheme as at present suggested and .excluding Dunedin, it appears to me tliat this community may actually .lose its chance of getting hydro-electric pouer within a reasonable period of tame, therefore make the suggestion that an endeavor first be made to mdme Dunedin to join in, because then the latin'' area, being, so very largely increased, the rate per pound is to -ueli a, figure that the ratepayers will" not individually overburdened In the Lake Coleridge district Chnstchurch is included, m the Southland district Tnvercargill is included. «nj should 1 lie capital city of Otago be excluded in an Otago Rch^ le -j^ CH : 22ml April. 1920.