"TOO BIG A BABY"!

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19162, 19 November 1927, Page 14

"TOO BIG A BABY"!

PROPOSED POWER BOARD'S MERGER. A verbal report on Thursday's conference respecting the proposed. Power Boards' merger was made at the meeting of the Heathcote County Council last night by the chairman, Mr C. Flavell. Mr Flavell said that none of the delegates went prepared to say "yea" or "nay"; they were all after information. Mr F. T. M. Kissel, the Chief Electrical Engineer, was asked to forward copies of his remarks and figures to each Power Board authority in the area. Looking at the map, it was a tremendous district and seemed to him to be rather unwieldy. An amalgamation of the Springs-Ellesme.e and the Malvern Boards would give a district big enough for one Board to manage. Ct. W. W. Scarff said that it seemed appropriate that alongside the report of the conference had appeared Sir Robert Stout's complaint that there were too many local bodies and yet another one was suggested. Looking at the matter from his point of view it appeared that the Government liar! got too big a baby and wanted someone else to carry it! The chairman said that they knew that the Banks Peninsula Board was up against it—a rate had b;en imposed in addition to high charges. He had noted that some private line consumers had given notice that they wished to be cut off.

Cr. Scarff said that was nothing so bad as Southland's plight, where there was a heavy rate plus the cost of juice. The chairman's report was received.