OAMARU'S POSITION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14041, 26 April 1920, Page 4

OAMARU'S POSITION.

The Mavor's advertisement calling the public meeting announces that -a large attendance is requested, as a proposal to join an Otago power district will he submitted." Without, pausing to ex-, amine the right of a public meeting to commit the ratepayers to air unknown heavv responsibility, we have no hesitation in saying that the meeting should not affirm the proposal one way or the other until several points of 'paramount importance are made clear. With cquallv as much justification as Dunedin this "borough might .'determine'to stand out of the ■power district. It has' its own electricity svstem. which has, cost some £30 0 000. ' It is true that it is an incomplete and inadequate system, but if we are rightly advised steps have been taken to greatly increase its efficiency and its earning power. But the main consideration that must -weigh with the I ratepayers is that they arc already rated to make good a deficiency upon their own scheme, and that entry' i. nto the new undertaking most certainly entails a few years at any rate of increased taxation to an undefined and undefinable amount. We have no intention of entering upon. a calculation as to what the. rate might be, because that would depend-jjpon the measure of financial success of the enterprise. We note, that in a letter to this iournal Mr R. K. Ireland stated the liability at 3s in the £ on the ratable value, but, of course, a call for the payment of such an amount is an exceedingly remote probability ? because it could only arise in the event of the enterprise proving a dismal failure, which, in the light of universal experience, cannot he rationally contemplated. But that there would be a rate for a period we feel tolerably certain. % Are the ratepayers to accept a further obligation B We not think they are. But all the same we hope that they will not reject the proposal to be submitted to the meeting, for that would be a step that might lead to future regrets, and would assuredly cause reproach. What we thtnK lßiie meeting should do is to decline to pronounce a final opinion upon the* subject, ask Dunedin to reconsider its decision, and seek some means of relief from the borough's present position in relation to its own scheme. Though it would be too much to ask that the whole thing should be taken over by the Board that will come into existence if the project goes forward, there is a via media that might well be adopted. It is that in consideration of Oamaru entering into the enterprise an assurance should' be given that the borough will be granted at a, reduced rate a sufficient amount of power to give such a profit on sale as would remove the necessity for the present rate. There would be nothing unreasonable about ■such a proposal. .Inasmuch as Oamaru has already provided the whole of the means of distribution, the town being completely reticulated, it would be a reasonable business transaction, and has. moreover' warrant in the existing contract between the Government and the Cimstchurch City Council. Under such an arrangement Oamaru might well play her part in promoting a scheme that will prove of advantage to all Otago. '