POWER SUPPLY FOR SOUTH CANTERBURY DEBATED IN TIMARU.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17863, 3 June 1926, Page 11

POWER SUPPLY FOR SOUTH CANTERBURY DEBATED IN TIMARU.

MR COATES’S MEMORY TO BE JOGGED REGARDING DELAYED PROMISE. (Special to the “Star.”) TIMARU, June 2. The report of a special committee on hydro-electric power for South Canterbury was the basis of a debate by the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce last night. * As a result of the deliberations, the following recommendations made by the committee were adopted: (1) That the principle that all hydroelectric schemes in New Zealand should . be developed by the Government and the power derived therefrom distributed through power boards be endorsed. (2) That the present supply of electricity to South Canterbury is unsatisfactory. (3) That a letter be sent to the South Canterbury Power Board expressive of the chamber’s anxiety concerning the present unsatisfactory position in respect of the supply of hydro-electric power in South Canterbury, and that the board be respectfully requested to take immediate action as follows: (a) Urge on the Government speedy completion of the Lake Coleridge duplication works, including especially the completion of a second transmission line to Timaru. (b) To call the attention of the Prime Minister to the long delay in the compilation and presentation of the promised expert report on the location of a new hydro-electric power scheme to reinforce the Lake Coleridge installation, and especially

the best developmental source in South Canterbury. The meeting also considered the report of a special committee on the recently gazetted omnibus regulations, and passed the following resolution: “That this general meeting of members of the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce strongly protests against the recently gazetted motor omnibus regulations made by Order-in-Council on the grounds that they are unduly harsh and are calculated to eliminate private enterprise to the detriment of the public welfare, and that the Government be urged to delay bringing the regulations into force until they have been considered by Parliament.’