HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 160, 2 April 1921, Page 3

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

* GOVERNMENT POLICY. Tn the course off an address at Paeroa on Tuesday at the official opening of tho Thames Valley Electric Power Board reticulation scheme, Hip Hon. yCoates. Minister of Public Works, said that tho big schemes were, generaiiv speaking, to be developed by the Government. and the power sold in bulk to the imwer boards, which in turn would make a. charge to the consumer. His job was to produce the energy at a price that would enable people to use it. He would not be thanked if a. charge of Jll2 per horse-power had to bo made for energy if, by judicious management, it could havtt been got for .£B. 'This point was worth remembering in view ot the pressure brought upon the Government, in various parts of the Dominion to proceed with different schemes. He referred, also, to the falling markets. The cost of copper wire was .116(1 a ton less Inan it was three or four months ago. Steel had dropped from .£'2s to £l7 a ton. These figures were e.i.f. for Government orders in New Zealand waters. I hen there Wore also genetators. turbines, insulators, sub-stalion plants, and various o'lter material that constituted a heavy item. The Government would not have been thanked, said Mr. Goates, if it had succumbed to the pressure exercised and rushed in and purchased nt the top of the markets. If this had'been done Hie people would only-have had to pay heavier charges and interest than would bo the case, because the Government had acted judiciously. He looked upon the development of hydro-electric power as being in the forefront of important works in the Dominion. It meant the saving of coal and an economy to every individual and the country as a whole. The work that had been done showed New Zealand to be in the front rank of progress as compared with any other conn, try in the world.