OTAGO DEVELOPMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26215, 27 July 1946, Page 8

OTAGO DEVELOPMENT

Sir,-—Reading the press telegrams from the north one would be led to believe that the great possibility of irrigation and of electric power to be obtained from Wanaka and Hawea Lakes and the Molyrteux River had first been discovered by Mr Semple, and that he is rushing down to Dunedin with some of his chiefs to tell the good people of Dunedin what a wonderful asset they have and how he is going to save and brighten their future. As a fact, these valuable assets have been known to the people of Dunedin and residents of Otago for very many years. The present Socialistic Government has been in power for over 10 years, and only now is it wakening up to the great assets we have in our various rivers and lakes. Mr Semple talks about a 10-year plan for Otago, but why 10 years? Cannot :t be done in five years? Perhaps Mr Boswell advises from Russia that the Communists always adopt a ’’ 10-year plan.’ No doubt in the Town Hall on Sunday evening the Mayor and other leading citizens will tell Mr Semple what a great chap he is, and what he is doing for Otago—or going to do (with an election in the near future)—but they won’t tell him that he is telling them nothing we did not know years ago, and that it is a duty in the interests of the whole of New Zealand that the Government should utilise the great lakes and rivers of Otago for the national good.—l am, etc. Citizen.