POWER BOARD DEFENDED

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 16 June 1924, Page 10

POWER BOARD DEFENDED

Sir.—A large attendance at tire Lyceum on Thursday night, and the enthusiasm of the committee, shows that Timaru has at last awakened to the fact that hvdro-electric energy is vitally essential to the progress of the district, and that the present supply is unsatisfactory and inefficient. What a pity it is that Timaru did not wake up sooner, and had given enthusiastic help, instead of placing obstacles in the way of those who were making strenuous efforts to secure an adequate', efficient, and cheap supply for the whole of South Canterbury. The committee are to be congratulated on the fact that, with the exception of somo of live wording of the main resolution, and a few remarks of minor importance, very little of abuse or unfair criticism was directed against the Power Board. Some of the statements by the. speakers however, requiro critical analysis. Mr Hall stated that permission to develop Tekapo, given by the Government some time ago, was still in existence, and is still as effective as ever, but Mr Hall omitted to mention the two essentia! conditions attached to that permission. The one was that complete plans and specifications for carrying out the work must bei prepared and forwarded to the Government for approval, and the other was that South Canterbury must take over the main transmission lino from Ashburton to Timaru. The cost of this latter is say £‘50,000, and as it would be quite useless in connection with any Tekapo distribution system, it jwonld lie a dead load to be carried by any development from Tekapo. MiHall did not explain, not even when again asked by one of the audience to do so, why lie advised the ratepayers to vole against the Power Board’s proposals to provide the funds required to procure these plans without which no development of Tekapo is permissible; nor did Mr Hall indicate any method ■v which funds for this purpose were obtainable. Will Mr Hall explain why he > advised the ratepayers to volo against lite JioauVs proposals? 3Yas it

because they proposed to provide funds to investigate Tekapo? If ho was not opposed to this part of the Board s proposals; it must be because lie was opi posed to the other main feature ot these proposals, namely, the reeticulation of the country districts. Throughout every step of Mr Hall's advocacy of power supplv to this district, he has always held that a very large demand was essential to the success of any undertaking of this nature, and in order to secure a sufficient demand to be profitable, it was necessary that the largest help possible should bo secured from the country districts. Will Mr Hall explain bow he expects to get a demand from tho country districts without first reticulating them? or how they can be reticulated without the ratepayers sanction to raise money for the puipcse, which sanction he advised them co'withhold? Mr Hall further stated that in company with Mr Anstey ho met a long conference with Mr Evan Parry, during which he stated that the demand from South Canterbury would be 5000 li.p.. but Mr Hall omitted to mention that Mr Parry qualified this statement by saving that this was only under conditions quite different to those now existing, and that it lie had been asked to report on the jequued load under existing conditions, bis estimate would probably bo not greater than that given by Mr Tcmplin, namely The Rev. Mr Potts struck the. high note of the meeting, in appealing tor Siearty co-operation of town witn country, recognising, as all earnest thinkers must, that but little progress can be made unless we eliminate that narrow, selfish, parochial spirit that leads to division waste of effort mud clogs progress. , .. Air Paterson delivered an address excellently adopted to‘ a farm School, but did not enlighten us any, as to ways and means of getting cheap and efficient electric energy. Mr Shunto told us that Coleridge was a broken reed to depend on, and we should go forward with Tekapo, but was silent also as to wavs and means. . Mr Gibb told us that he was m favour of Tekapo, he was sorry that the Board’s proposals were turned down, but if they had been carried, the Power Board would have been “in a hole. What particular hole he did not explain Ho apparently did not recognise that had the Board’s'proposals been carried, we should have Deen in a position at once to have proceeded with the investigation of Tekapo, and to ha\c gone on with its duplication, as soon as the Coleridge supply was proved to be inefficient. , , ~ r . nn „ Mr Porter said that the £2OO proposed by the Board for this investigation wan insufficient for the purpose, with which statement everyone wno is acquainted with the subject will agree, but he did not enlighten us as to where we were to get the larger sum required fo: this purpose. ~ , . Mr Long struck the discordant note in the third paragraph of his resolution, m accusing the Board of “lack of foresight in not foreseeing the difficulties ■attendant on the adoption of the Coleridge supply scheme.” Mr Long forgets that the decision to bring tho Coleridge supply to Timaru was adoptcd many years before the lowei Uoaio Was even' thought of, that it was Drought here at the persistent requests of the late M.P. for Timaru, and others, the Timaru Borough Council and several public*meetings, and that all these have for several years, spared no efforts in blocking every attempt to develop power from Tekapo,. and it scorns passing strange, that when now at last Coleridge at our unfortunate request has reached us, we turn round refuse to use it, and now want lelcapo. The Coleridge -supply scheme was approaching completion before the Board were in any position to deal with it, and had to accept conditions as they find them, and are in no sense responsible for bridging it here off? for its inefficiency. ' - . . The proposal to form a league is highly commendable, and it can accomplish much useful work. This can only be done by avoiding all misrepresenting or misjudging of tacts which must be faced as they exist. It must recognise that no good , purpose can be served by heaping undeserved reproaches on the Power Board. It must recognise that the only way to get cheap and efficient energy to South Cautorbuiy •is to develop a large demand tor it, and the only way to get this is to join country with town for tins purpose, and that while it may be possible to get a supply at high cost direct from die Government for the Borough of Ti'rnavu, it is impossible-to supply the various country districts economically except through some central -body-such as a Power Board. The country districts have always enthusiastically supported the establishment of ..a lower Board, Timaru has always opposed tins, and succeeded in delaying its formation for a year. The- country districts supported the Board’s proposals to reticulate the district, and to investigate Tekapo, and cheerfully .Pjffgec. themselves to shoulder five-sixths of the cost, should any deficiency in ie venue occur, while they could only hope to Wit a one half sharo m any benefit accruing therefrom. Timaru turned down those proposals although in case of loss, it was only responsible for one, sixth of it, while of its benefits it would get a full half share. .. , Great service would be done if the League cau bring Timaru to sec, that cordial unity between town and coun- \ rv is the only way to get the best pvooTpssive results, and that this suicidal jealousy between town and country is fatal to success generally, and if continued for only a year or two longer all hope of our having a development scheme of our own, by South Canterbury and for South Canterbury, may bo abandoned for ever. Within ten vears at furthest, the duplication ot supply from Coleridge, now in progress, will lie overtaken by the demand. Tekano or some other source must be utilised then, if not at a much earlier date and onlv by the elimination ot this absurd jealousv between town and country, and by cordial co-operation and unitv of effort can we succeed in rescuing 'this South Canterbury development from the, clutches of the Public Works Department, who, we know, am anxious to seize it, and will then probably repeat the costly blunders that characterise so many of their public works. I am, etc., J()HN ANSTEY .