THE WATER-POWER QUESTION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 778, 30 March 1910, Page 9

THE WATER-POWER QUESTION.

..Sir,—Now that the Cabinet have performed another; "vol ta-facia" .011 the water-power' question, the good people of Christchurch,: like their, predecessors in limbo (the miners of West-land),, are undertaking ! a. disconcerted, ..single-' handed, parochial agitation • for the '"rights of the people" versus .a-State monopoly. . Hero in New Zealand it-.is only where the shoe pinches that anybody squeals, while all the' rest sit tight and play "beggar my neighbour," with, eves shut and; mouth open agape for political plums.' "Forgetting, of . course, that unity of' hostile "action is what- politicians fear, most.. , ~ .Now,-it is paipfiilly evident from what has trapspircd 011 the West Coast, that unless this water-power campaign is carried on as a'common cause, and-con-certed action taken, the present. Ministry is capable of perpetrating any number ; of.' similar "absurdities.". Therefore, I appeal to -you; sir, to support the rights; of individuals and private enterprise against Socialistic- State 'monopolies 'of the means of production. • I do so, not as a, directly interested party in any water-power scheme (which I certainly am not), but aB an ordinaryratepayer, with common-sense enough to see that his-best interests, depends upon tlie industrial progress and enterprise of this colony, and not upon borrowed money or the old-age pension.-— I am, etc;, ;':' ■ 1 ; ; ; ANTI-STATE MONOPOLY. '■ ' 'March 29.