WAIPORI POWER.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 227, 25 September 1929, Page 13

WAIPORI POWER.

! PURCHASE OF PLANT. OFFER TO DUNEDIN COUNCIL. TERMS NOT YET DISCLOSED. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) DUNEDIN, this day. The Government has made a definite offer for the purchase of the City Council's hydro-electric headworks at Waipori. Some time ago Mr. F. W. Furkert, engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department, put the following proposal to the council, in a letter to the town clerk: "Will your council consider the purchase by this Department of the headworks and main transmission line of your Waipori plant, at a price to be ascertained as your actual cost, and on condition that thereafter we supply you with power at the rate of (say) £G per k.v.a. a year, which is a figure based on your ascertained costs for the past few years, and your estimated costs for similar supply for the next few years. At the present juncture the Department is not in a position definitely to make a contract on these lines, but we should appreciate an indication from you that your council is prepared to negotiate on these lines." • The town clerk advised Mr. Furkert that the City Council was prepared to negotiate, and there followed protracted conferences in Dunodin between representatives of the City Council and the Public Works Department.

"What are the exact terms of the Government's definite offer?" the town clerk was asked to-day, but he explained that as the offer was framed in technicalities it could not be stated for publication. The terms would be explained clearly to the City Council to-morrow night.