M.E.D. BILL EXPLAINED BY MRS E. R. M’COMBS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18805, 6 July 1929, Page 2

M.E.D. BILL EXPLAINED BY MRS E. R. M’COMBS.

GIVES CHRISTCHURCH EQUALITY OF TREATMENT The comment that has been made regarding the draft of a new J3ill to be submitted to Parliament by the Christchurch City Council in connection with its electrical undertaking, seems to have been directed to one of the less important clauses of the Bill, said Councillor Elizabeth M’Combs, chairman of the Electricity Committee, today. The purpose of the proposed Act is to place the electrical undertaking of Christchurch City in the same position as that of the other three main centres. Last year, when a number of amendments were made in the Municipal Corporations Act, those larger undertakings operating under special Acts were specifically excluded. The Christchurch undertaking did not operate under such a special Act. The result would have been that some of these amended clauses, intended primarily for power boards and the circumstances of power boards, would have been made to apply to one of the larger city undertakings. This undertaking has been in operation for twenty-five years, and has established a policy of development, the success and soundness of which has been amply proved. A continuation of this policy and method of administration would have been inconvenient or unacceptable, under the new amendment. Representatives of the council applied for exemption for the city’s undertaking when giving evidence on behalf of the council before the Local Bills Committee. The members of the committee expressed themselves as sympathetic with the council’s application, but were unable to recommend the exemption asked for. In recognition, however, of the fact that the other three main centres each had special Acts under which their electrical undertakings were operating, the Minister in charge of the Bill, and the members of the committee, gave the council’s representatives an assurance that if a special Bill were promulgated in order to put the Christchurch undertaking on the same footing, it would receive favourable consideration. The Bill now being brought before the House is the result of that need, and of the assurance then received.