POWER SUPPLY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19148, 3 November 1927, Page 9

POWER SUPPLY.

GOVERNMENT URGED TO ACT. N FEAR OF SHORTAGE IN 1930. . A report was before the Progress League Executive last evening concerning power supply in Canterbury. The general effect of the report was that the Government should be urged to begin at once to prepare to increase the available supply for Canterbury in view of the rapid increase in demand. Another shortage, it was stated, was inevitable in 1930, or in 1931, at latest, unless the Government could be persuaded to speed up its programme! The report declared that it was essential that an additional unit of 7500 k.w. should be in service at Lake Coleridge by May, 1929, that the full ultimate capacity (34,500 k.w.) would be required during the winter of 1930, that the Waitaki scheme should be in operation not later than April, 1931, and that therefore the installation of theextra unit at Lake Coleridge and the construction of the Waitaki scheme should be put in hand at once. Mr W. T. Lill expressed complete accord with the report, and said that the Government should be pressed hard and given no peace until it acted. He referred to the growth of the use of electricity in the country districts and for cooking purposes. Mr C. Flavell spoke on the same lines, urging that the Government should be pressed to extend the Coleridge scheme and make an early start with the Waitaki scheme. Mr G. E. Judd said that the League was in a position to urge the Government to keep pace with the demand. - '■

The chairman (Mr J. ,A. Flesher) suggested that copies of the report should be forwarded to the Power Boards of Canterbury for their approval, and that the Boards should be asked if a conference should bo held to discuss the matter. The Government had decided to install a power station at Waitaki, and to his mind that was a mistake, as the biggest consumer was so far away. They had had experience of shortage of supply a few years ago, when people had had to disconnect during certain hours. That would come again. What was wanted was not the present Government monopoly, but a Power Trust for Canterbury. They should have Home Rule, and the matter in their own hands. "We must show the powers that be that we are in deadly earnest," continued, Mr Flesher, moving on the lines of his suggestion, and adding that copies of the report should be sent to all bodies interested. Mr G. Maginness seconded the motion, stating that the more they could keep such matters within their own grasp the better off would they be. The motion was carried.