The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1922. STILL WRONG.

Southland Times, Issue 19508, 6 May 1922, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1922. STILL WRONG.

In this place last Saturday we referred to certain remarks made by Councillor J. P. Murphy, of Timaru, in regard to the Southland electrification scheme. There is a proposal under consideration in Timaru for the formation of an electric power board to carry through a scheme for supplying South Canterbury with electricity from Lake Tekapo. Councillor Murphy has very properly taken pains to gather all the information he can about electric power enterprises in order that he may examine the Tekapo scheme in the light of the fullest information available. It is his duty, as a member of the Council, to give the ratepayers of Timaru some lead in so important a matter, and in the course of his search for information and guidance he visited Southland. What we objected to was that Councillor Murphy made certain loose statements which misrepresented the position of the power scheme in this province, but which purported to be statements of cold fact. Perhaps we should not be too severe on Councillor Murphy, for it seems to have been his misfortune when in Southland to have seen nothing at all favourable to the electrification scheme and to have heard only adverse criticisms of it. In a letter to the Timaru Post Councillor Murphy replies to our strictures, but he does nothing to substantiate the statements which were formerly challenged. He says that he “expected his analysis to be challenged, not because his facts were wrong, but because they did not suit the book of certain interested parties.” What he means by that we are not quite sure, but since Councillor Murphy’s so-called facts are all of one very pronounced colour there is at least ground for the suspicion that he, on his part, got his information from “certain interested parties.” He refers to “the fulmination of the Southern journal.” He can see no occasion for his “journalistic friends of the South lashing themselves into a condition of fury over the matter.” Let us assure Councillor Murphy that we are perfectly calm. We see nothing in his criticism to be at all worried or nervous about, and all we are concerned with is that a scheme which means more to this province than any other project taken up by its people, and before which, under proper management and administration, there is every prospect of success, should not be misrepresented in any part of the dominion. It is quite true, as Councillor Murphy says, that a large number of the poles for the reticulation system have been put up, but it is absolutely incorrect to say that “the poles will not be brought into use for many years as the ‘juice’ cannot be given to the people at anything approaching an acceptable price.” There is no reason why electricity from Monowai should not be on sale before the end of the year, and, as to price, it is certain, despite what Councillor Murphy calls his facts, that power from Monowai can be generated and sold more cheaply than by the Invercargill Town Council; not only that, but under the scale of charges drawn up power will be sold to Southland consumers at less than the Coleridge rates once they take over a certain quantity. These are facts which Councillor Murphy unfortunately failed to gather on his visit to Southland. The statements Councillor Murphy first made were not correct in. fact, and his reiteration of them in his letter to the Timaru Post does not make them so. As to the alleged loss of £37,000 in the first year, Councillor Murphy merely accepts and repeats as fact

an estimate that has been openly challenged. But in any case what does a loss in this sense mean? It is assuredly not a trading loss, for the Southland Power Board has not yet commenced trading operations, and no scheme of the kind can be judged fairly except on its working experience. The Southland electrification

scheme has been delayed by circumstances quite beyond the Board’s control. The work is suspended now pending receipt of certain authorities from the department. The proposed canvass is also being delayed by vexatious difficulties which have to be overcome as they arise. Any scheme of this magnitude is subject to these hitches and stops. With better luck the scheme might have been nearing completion now, and with reasonable luck it will be far advanced towards completion before the end of the year. But even if there should be further delay the black colour which Councillor Murphy has used so freely would not be warranted, and we suggest that he might with advantage make a further visit to Southland. We are certain that he would find himself obliged to revise his “facts” and that he would return to Timaru with a more cheerful story to tell the people of South Canterbury.