POWER BOARD FINANCE

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1577, 22 November 1924, Page 4

POWER BOARD FINANCE

CRITICISM FROM OTOROHANGA.

MR J. T. JOHNSON REPLIES

After commenting at Friday’s meeting of the Te Awamutii Electric Power Board on the increase .in the, general demand for electricity, the chairman (Mr J. T. Johnson) referred to the re-' cent statement published in the Otorohanga Times by Mr F. Phillips, a member of the recently-formed Waitomo Power Board, at the -Boatd table, to the effect that £50,000 of the Te Awamutu Board’s funds had “gone west.” Mr Johnson said that'.at first sight he had intended to allow the statement to pass without comment, but' after due consideration he thought it only fair to the Te Awamutu Board’s rate-*..

payers, and all others interested, to point out the fallacies of Mr Phillips’ contentions. The latter gentleman had explained that of the total figure quoted £30,000 loss had been incurred, ow-

ing to the higher costs ruling when the Te Awamutu Board was constructing its scheme as compared with presentday prices. Further, a sum of £14,000' as interest on loan money, and £BOOO of capitalised losses were shown. As a matter of fact the evident exaggeration contained in such statements was its own answer. Certainly, said Mr Johnson, present-day prices have come, back considerably from the days when the Board started out on its undertaking. Labour costs in construction are no lower to-day, while another large item, that of pole costs, showed, no alteration. Poles cannot be procured •more cheaply to-day. , ; - r It is in the hardware and transformer section of the Te Awamutu Board’s requirements where the drop in prices is the. heaviest. But even here Mr Phillips is very wide of the mark, as a very considerable portion of our requirements was bought far below the peak prices, and at the end of 1921, and early in 1922 the Te Awamutu Board was buying at rates that compare very favourably v with those ruling, to-day. As an instance he had only to mention the purchase of '6OO miles of copper wire—half of this total was purchased at lljd and the balance at lid. Could that be bettered today? ' . .... ; • Re the £14,000 interest on loan money mentioned by Mr Phillips,. Mr Johnson said he would give it up as an enigma. “I have examined " our balance-sheets and our figures, and I. can only conclude that it, like the £30,000, is arrived at by some weird line of reasoning known only to Mr.: Phillips himself.” A,,..."' V •,: “As to the £BOOO capitalised losses,’ said Mr Johnson, “we have capitalis-

ed no losses, unless Mr Phillips is referring to payment of first year’s interest out. of loan,/ a course usually adopted by all public, bodies and" for which provision was made iii the original estimates and in our loan .schedule, We have carried forward a loss of £3438 2s lOd under powers conferred, by legislation, but only temporarily, and the same legislation insists that in a given period this and any other losses involved must be retrieved ’and not capitalised.” _ . Concluding, Mr Johnson said: “I have no hesitation in saying that statements such as have been, circulated per medium of the Otorokanga Times are a gross exaggeration, and have nosubstance in fact. There is no justification possible for a member of another Board, who, Whenever his own proposed methods are assailed, immediately side-steps the issue by indulging in a criticism of the affairs of another local body. The offence is aggravated when statements are made as facts that are. merely only wild guesses. : There is an unwritten law. usually recognised amongst local bodies, and observed by gentlemen in intercourse one with the other, that in matters which can be no concern of theirs' they literally mind their own business. This Board is responsible for its administration , and policy to its ratepayers and its consumers; for its straightforward financial operations to the Audit Department, and for its type and quality of construction of lines, substations, etc., to the Public Works Deparement and the Post and Telegraph Department. So far I have been unable to discover that the WlaitomoPower Board or any member that _ be-

comes its self-appointed mouthpiece, comes under this category, and so far as I, as chairman of the Te Awamutu Board, am concerned any further criticism from that quarter will be quietly ignored.” , Mr Sutherland said he was glad to hear the chairman dealing with the situation so firmly. As a matter of fact, declared the speaker, we have £3017 as accumulated sinking fund to set off against Mr Phillips’ statements while the value of equipment, vehicles, land, etc., approximates £5600. Despite all the outlay at the outset, the construction cost per mile was £492 and if'that figure is regarded as too high by Mr Phillips and his fellow members, let the Waitomo Powei Board go and do better. The Waitomo Board’s balance-sheet will assuredly be awaited with interest; despite his own intention to refrain* from criticising it like Mr Phillips had done the Te Awamutu Board’s balance-sheet. Mr Spinley commented that the Te Awamutu Board’s plant has been maintained in good order. Mr Parlane remarked that the le Awamutu Board and its officers are evidently serving the public efficiently, and even if in some cases the costs had been higher it should be remembered that Te Awamutu was a pioneer Board, and thus Waitomo if it is wise will be afforded opportunity for avoiding a similar experience. It is all very well to be wise after an event, but he was interested to observe whether Mr Phillips would be wise beforehand.

Mr Downes said that invariably comparisons are odious. He was glad the chairman had explained the position so clearly that only those wilfully blind could fail to see. -In his-opin-ion, Mr Johnson could well have ignored the diatribe. It was .certainly injudicious for a .member of one Power Board to criticise the administration of another. The proper thing to do was to better it. Mr Phillips’ statements were flagrantly untrue. . After Mr Macky had laughingly commented that it may be a case of the prophet having no honour in his own country, and therefore the intentionally misleading statements of the gentleman at Otorohanga would be ineffective, the matter was allowed to drop.