The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1925. SELF-RELIANCE BETTER.

Southland Times, Issue 19598, 9 July 1925, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1925. SELF-RELIANCE BETTER.

The member for Wallace probably had his eye on the electorate when he was urging the Government to take over the Monowai scheme. His appeal in the debate on the Address-in-Reply may appear to some people as an energetic effort to secure relief from rates, but it is rather early for any member of Parliament to rise in the House and put forward such a suggestion as an expression of the opinion of the people of this part of the Dominion, and if Mr Thomson did not wish to convey that impression, he should not have spoken. As a matter of fact, this proposal was mentioned in a meeting of the Farmers’ Union a little while ago, but then arguments were advanced against the idea which were enough to show that it is not practicable at the present moment. The Monowai scheme was adopted by the people of the province by an overwhelming majority, and if it is the terrible proposition that Mr Thomson suggests, it is rather difficult to see how the Government can assume the liabilities and distribute them over the taxpayers of the Dominion. People in this part of the country would probably object strenuously if they were compelled to bear the expense of a project started locally in the North Island and shown to be a financial failure, and we can imagine the arguments of the farmer in the North Island who is asked to accept all that Mr Thomson’s proposal represents. If the Government took over the scheme and operated it with the idea of making it pay, the Southland farmer would not be one whit better off and he might easily be a lot worse, because at least the Southland Power Board is the creature of his own making. Before such requests are put forward by members of Parliament from this province, there should be indisputable evidence that they are in keeping with the will of the people, and we would be loth to believe that Southlanders support this whining to the Government to take a bad job off our hands. In using that phrase we are mindful of the fact that it is by no means so clear, as Mr Thomson’s statement implies, that the Monowai scheme is a “bad job.” There have been all sorts of critics of the scheme in the past and many of them etill exist, but latterly we have published statements by farmers, comparatively big and small, who do not share Mr Thomson’s fear of the rates, and their experience should do something to restore that cdhfidence wh ch the member for Wallace has lost. It is very much better for us to carry on with that policy of self-reliance which has characterised Southland for so many years, and out of which the Monowai scheme was built as a means of bringing electricity to Southland now, in preference to waiting something like 20 years. A glance at the Board’s revenue figures will show that many

farmers are still hesitating about taking the current, but the experience of* those who have installed electricity will tend to overcome this diffidence and strengthen the position of the Board. As we have said on previous occasions, the critics who talk about rates and give no attention to the convenience of the new power, comparing also the operating costs, are adopting an attitude that is unfair to the Monowai scheme and unjust to themselves. Southlandera should look beyond mere figures and .adjust themselves to the fact that the introduction of electricity to the country has? advantages to the farmers that are very real and they can be set off against the cost. It is a fact, too, that in a few years the development of the scheme will strengthen it, and then those who advocate Government control will be content to remain silent. This province has no desire to run crying to the Government. It is ready to shoulder its own burdens, as it did in the past, and it is neither good for, nor just to, the province that there should be given the impression that there has been any departure from the sturdy policy of self-reliance which is Southland’s boast. There is no reason why we should not ask for just treatment, for relief from anything suggestive of discriminatory tariffs, but we object strenuously to the implication that we are eager to beg for special privileges. The member for Wallace asked the Government to dignify this part of the country with the status of a province in registration and statistical matters, and at the same time he was representing Southland to the House as a place which, was ready to rush into a scheme and then, panicstricken, to unload it on to the State. Mr Thomson should find something better than this for his contribution to the Address-in-Reply debate, something less suggestive of election propaganda and more in keeping with the ideas of this part of the Dominion.