WAIPORI HEADWORKS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20832, 26 September 1929, Page 7

WAIPORI HEADWORKS.

; OFFER TO PURCHASE. ’» i GOVERNMENT’S CONDITIONS. cny council abandons NEGOTIATIONS. &■ ; !fhe City Council had a most important decision to make last night when' 1 a report came before it dealing with the proposed sale of , the Waipori headworks to the Government. ■The report recommended that ’.the negotiations between the council and the Government should be abandoned; and the recommendation was adopted. The report from the Electric Power and . Lighting Committee read as follows; —. Tour committee begs to report that pursuant to instructions from council it has proceeded with the negotiations with the officials of the Public Workq Department with a view to the to the Stale of the headworks at Waipori. ' , The negotiations have been conducted by a sub-committee of your committee, and have been somewhat protracted in their nature. Two officials from the Public Works Department visited the city during the first week in August, and extracted figures from our accounts, and engaged in lengthy conversations with your sub-committee with the result that, certain terms of the proposed transaction were satisfactorily agreed upon. In respect, however, of the all important question of the sum to be paid -to us,, and likewise the purchase price by us of the electricity, should the proposed transfer be made, no agreement was come to, and the officials from Wellington departed wifi a promise that upon a more complete analysis of the figures they had accumulated they would In due course forward their proposals. These proposals reached us on Saturday last, and, briefly stated, are as follows : (a) Generally the tentative agreements previously reached were to stand. ... / (b) The. State to pay the council the sum of £531,845, together with the capital expended by the council on the headworks during the present financial year. {This latter sum amounted to about £50,00t) to August 81, and is, of course, still being added ■' to.) ’ . (c) t The council to be directly responsible for any additional! expense that may be occasioned in connection with the present pipe lines. (d) Payment of purchase moneys to be made by instalments of approximately 25 per 'cent, in 1032, 25 per cent, in 1834, and the balance in

1940, or as may otherwise he agreed.' (e) Interest to he payable by the department to the council at £5 6s 3d per cent; on all unpaid purchase moneys.

(f) Power thereafter to ,be purchased by’ the corporation from the department at £4 16s per kw of annual maximum demand delivered at Wai-

pori or Halfway Bush at the, option of thetdepartment—this price tb be :• payable in respect only of the first ; 32,000 { kws of maximum demand. The terms and dates for p'aymeht are quite satisfactory, as they agree -with the periods of our maturing loans, and the‘rate of interest payable on the unpaid purchase money is likewise satisfactory, being the calculated', average £ato we are' paying on our debentures, fit is, however, chiefly; in respect of the purchase price by US vt the bulk supply from the department that we not in accord •' with \ the proposals, Regarding as we dp the price named as higher than itvia costing us-to generate and higher, . too, than we may reasonably expect to generate in the future, should the maximum demand on the station increase at anything approaching our estimates.

•In, view of this fact, your committee now recommends that. ithe negotiations he, abandoned with a view to proceeding forthwith with the development of thestation on the lines necessary to ensure the maximum economic capacity of the river: 32,000 kws. Should tide recommendation be acceptable to the council, the. committee will forthwith apply to thef Government for authority to develop Nos. 3 arid 4 stations and reinvestigate the subject of the ultimate height it is necessity to take the! dam, as this phase of the matter has been to some extent altered by the recent purchase of the Lawrence water rights fay which the average flow of the river has been increased. In making this recommendation your committee has in mind the fact that to continue the negotiations, even if it were found possible to bring them to finality in time to permit of the agreement being validated by. Parliament during the present session,' would allow of. insufficient time to give that puhlicity to the terms that is advisable, while to delay the matter for a year and go on expending money at Waipori would obviously be largely to defeat the very object of the proposal, and would' materially reduce the benefits both to the city and to, the State. Cr Scott moved the adoption' of the .(in .the absence of the chairman of the committee, Cr Shacklock). He said,that the report lucidly set out the position,, and that clause (f) had been the one which had given them the Keenest study. This was a very important matter to the city of Dunedin. They had considered that £4 16s her kilowatt was too high a price to be paid , to the Government, and the committee had therefore unanimously decided .to turn down the offer. The council would now be in a position to go on at once with the extension and development of Waipori, which was an important feature in the life of the city of Dunedin. Application would be made to the Government to use the water in the lower portion of Waipori for Nos. 3 and 4 stations. The committee was anxious to: make a start at once and review the whole position. They wanted to put Waipori on an efficient footing and know exactly where they were. The sub-committee an( j tiie committee as a whole had done an enormPVß ? ,moun t of work in connection with the negotiations. __Cr. Wilkinson seconded the motion. He said that they could no longer mark time, and that something definite had to bo done. As the report showed, it was better to go on with the development of Waipori as early as possible, and thus prevent a loss of time and money. Cr Begg asked what the report really meant. Ho had not received a copy until he arrived at the meeting, and hn had not had time to look at it. Did it mean that Waipori was to be sold?

CounciUors: No. Cr Clark: The terms are not satisfac' tory.

Cr Clark added that if the pros and icons of the matter were to be discussed the council should go into committee. It should not show its hand to the people iwitb whom it was negotiating. Cr Marlow said that there was no need to go into details. The Electric Power and Lighting Committee had appointed a sab-committee to report, and its decision'had ■ been unanimous. While the committee had been negotiating it had been in a sense marking time. Gr Mitchell: Have you stopped work? Cr Marlow t No. Time had been lost dstho committee had been unable to go