SOP TO THE PUBLIC.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 18 June 1924, Page 10

SOP TO THE PUBLIC.

To the Editor of the “Tiniaru Herald." Sir, —At the hydro-power meeting on Thursday- night, questions were asked why it should be necessary for a deputation from the Power Board to go to Wellington to ask leave to investigate the possibilitiesof Teltapo when a concession has already been granted. No answer was forthcoming. . The paltry sum, £2OO, allowed for investigation, shows that the Board is not taking the investigation seriously, but merely as a sop to the public indignation that is now stirring them up. But whatever the deputation is going up for it is obvious that they will come back up a big wet blanket, woven from their own wool gathering of the past vear, and saturated with a very cold ‘douche of Public Works political policy, with which to damp the enthusiasm of public opinion which is now pushing them niong the road they should have taken a year ago. A large consignment of promises will also be sent down for local consump tion (large stocks are carried by every Government Department) varying from promises of immediate improvement in present transmission, to promises of triple or even umpteen transmission lines with thousands of h.p. or kilowatts. • The meeting on Thursday was a grand meeting, and given good weather would have been the best public meeting seen here for years; but if any good is to result, it must be considered as merely the beginning of what will be a strenuous campaign before we get the power which is vital to the real prosperity of South Canterbury. I trust that the organisers of the first meeting will organise a second at the earliest possible date, and as many further as may bo necessary, not forgetting meetings in Waimate, Temuka, Geraldine, and other interested townships, and even looking as far afield as Oamaru and Ashburton as probable customers for Tekapo power.—-I am, etc., CITIZEN.