No Relaxation Of Community Lighting Restriction

Chronicle (Levin), 20 December 1949, Page 3

No Relaxation Of Community Lighting Restriction

-The restriction on the use of community lighting in areas under the control of the Horowhenua Electric Power Board will, except for a brief period during Christmas, be continued. This decision was reaffirmed at the ahnual ] meeting of the board yesterday in reply to'a letter from the Foxton Borough Council. '"This is one thing we cannot do anything about," the chairman, Mr. T. G. Vincent, told the board. "There is no prospect that in the bnmediate future we will be able td grant any further concessions. We are roughly 750,000 units in excess of our allocation." t'The Foxton Borough Council, in Its letter to the board, quoted a letter it had reeeived from the Electricity Controller to the effect '(that restrictions on community lighting were decided by the local sauthority. Each local authority vras, of course, guided- by its rate of consumption compared with allocation. In Auckland quite a deal of publieity had been given tb the fact that consumers as a whole had accumulated a credit of power due to past savings. It was these savings which had engbled the Auckland Board to relax its restrictions, the controller concluded. . In a footnote the council added that it appeared on the surface of the letter that there was something unfair in the distribution qf the allocations to the various supply authorities. ' The Auckland Board had imPDsed much more drastic reductions, commented Mr. Vincent, and had been able to build up a reserver Whether tbe allocation

to the various supply authorities was fair, he was ndt competent to say. He did know, however, that the controller and his staff of experts went into the matter thoroughly and as far as one could see they were as fair as it was possi'ble to be. If a relaxation was given to Foxton it would have to be extended to all other towns in the "board's area. Then the board could riot expect as much co-operation in the saving of power by the general consumer as it reeeived today. "I was hoping , that before I severed my connection with the board we would reach the stage Where we would be inducing industry to use more power, but I cannot see that happening," said Mr. Vincent. The Auckland Board was able to relax now because it had units in hand and could use them up before -the end of the year. He did not see how electricity could be saved, commented Mr. H. Dustin. "You cannot put it in a tin!" "No, but you can save water and that is what they are trying to do," replied Mr. Vincent. Mr. R. O. Hornblow: But why should they be allowed to splash it all now? The Horowhenua Board was suffering now because it had cooperated with the authorities during the war by saving all it could when requested. Other boards had forged ahead, commented Mr. Vincent. Those figures were the basis of today's allocation. "The position is that we are paying now for saving then." After further discussion it was decided to advise the council that any relaxation was out of the question.