PUBLIC UTILITIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21736, 30 August 1932, Page 12

PUBLIC UTILITIES

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—lt has been said that if persons apprehended all the facts ou which an argument should be bused they, will reason correctly. With that.end in view I have been looking up the reasons advanced by »the advocates of such public .utilities a 3 electric lighting, gas, land tramways being owned by municipalities or the State, instead ..of by private enterprise. I find that the'main reason.advanced is that the users would get dividends in the form of cheaper electricity, gas; or tram fares. But the fly in the ointment appears to me to be that many users have no more say in the control of the Electric Power and Lighting Department in Dunedin than they would if the concern were run- by private enterprise. Production for use and not profit implies that the user should have a say. There are users of/electricity in Port Chalmers, the Peninsula, Green Island, St. Kilda, Ravensbourne, and the Taieri who have no say, in the election of the Committee of Management of the iElectric Power and Lighting. Department In fact, the system of election is such that the electors on the Dunedin City Council roll alone elect-the council, and the council elects the Committee of Management. The result is as has happened before to-day, that a councillor who is not a user of electricity can* be elected a member of the Committee of Management of,the Electric Power and Lighting Department. If all users alone elected the committee, service would be the guiding principle and profits would be used' to extend the service and cheapen the cost to the users. These interests would restrain the city from using funds for purposes outside that of electric lighting and power The City Council annually takes from the profits a proportionate amount to" go into the general account. But that is not all. As a case in point out of many,.when the ratepayers "turned down" a loan to build a Town Hall the city : councillors, ignoring the interestsof the users of our public utilities, put aside the profits from the tramway, gas, water, and electric power departments during the Exhibition year to build the Town Hall. Prior to that time, the iucentive being, however, derived mainly from the Exhibition, the Richardson street and Exhibition tramlines were constructed. Had the profits been used to reduce the capital cost of constructing these lines, the difficulties that form the basis of discussion in your columns would be minimised to a great extent. But the St. Kilda users of the tram, having no say in the management, must put up with the nominal owner, the City Council, which is. as exacting as any private enterprise dividend-creating concern would be. It is safe to say that if all users elected the Committee of .Management the interest of the users' would be placed first. If Dunedin then had to have its Town Hall, profits made from users would not pay for it. Electricity used in industry, being required not only for lighting our business premises, but also as motive power, plays an important part in manufacture. If Dunedin and its environs are to He a manufacturing centre, cheap motive power is essential 'to compete against other centres in New Zealand. lm is obvious that, while the City Council uses profits for,city purposes that are outside the scope of electric power and lighting, the users' interests are not being safeguarded and the object of muni cipal ownership is -being undermined. Space prevents me from presenting facts gleaned over a number of years which will show how a section of the community own in c services used by people outside its scope can nullify the intention of the great founders of such a democratic movement as public ownership of public utili ties and can throw stumbling blocks in the way of enabling it to fulfil its intended and inherent functions. —I am. etc., Overland.