Independent View On Gas Wanted

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30980, 9 February 1966, Page 3

Independent View On Gas Wanted

(New Zealand Press Association) WANGANUI, February 8. The public should continue to press the Minister of Electricity (Mr Shand) for a report on the Kapuni gas question from an economic expert independent of both gas and electrical interests, said the chairman of the Wanganui Power Board (Mr G. N. Boulton).

The move, he said, should be taken before the Minister committed the public to what appeared to be an unnecessary bill of some millions of pounds. In an earlier report from the Electric Supply Authorities Association, it was

charged that the Government had withheld information necessary for a full investigation of the use of Kapuni gas as gas. The board supported the association’s request for an independent economic report on the proposal, as it appeared that to pipe the gas to cities could cost the country some £25 million more than using the gas on the spot for electricity generation. The board was not against the piping of the gas if it could be shown by an independent investigation that this was the best economic use for it. Reference was made to a statement last week from the general manager of the Electricity Department (Mr E. B. Mackenzie) who asserted the piping of the gas would help the national economy. Mr Boulton: “Such a short statement could not give enough facts to prove the correctness of the assertion. We can only assume the statement was issued with the approval, or at the request, of the Minister with the sole or main reason of creating a favourable public impression to piping the gas. as coming from a man who is very much pro-electrical.”