HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

Western Star, 19 March 1920, Page 2

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

A STRONG RECOMMENDATION. It will bo remembered that the House of Parliament, early in November of 1918, ordered that a select Committee be appointed to enquire into and report upon matters tending to benefit and encourage the industries of the Dominion. The Special Committee appointed travelled throughout the Dominion and made extensive investigations and took elaborate evidence on a large variety of subjects. It is of great interest to the people of Southland at this moment to know that the Parliamentary Committee decided to place Hydro-Electric Power in the very forefront of its proposals for the development of the Dominion. “We are more than convinced,” the report stated, “ that Hydro-Electric Powers •stated, “that Hydro-Electric Power means increased production in both primary and secondary industries. Hydro-Electric Power must certainly be given the foremost place. The provision of adequate supplies of energy is the basis of all industrial progress, and if this country is in the near future to experience a period of great industrial expansion, nothing is more pressing than the development of our magnificent resources of water power.” The report stated that there wag an emphatic demand for the power. “Wherever the Committee has been,” it continued, “whether in town or country, nothing has been more striking than the emphatic unanimity of the demand for electrical energy. Evidence was given in the City of Christchurch that even modem suction gas plants had been discarded in .favour of the electrical supply. Not only h'ad existing industries been fostered and stimulated, but a number of new industries had already been started, while the establishment of further new undertakings was promised as soon as additional power could be obtained,” Tho report 'also makes this very important statement: “It will be 1 admitted that conditions of life and labour in the rural districts will be made easier and more attractive, and s one of the surest ways to accomplish ] this end is to make electricity the < ever willing and reliable tservant of < the settler and farmer.” t