SPARSE AREAS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 54, 1 September 1944, Page 7

SPARSE AREAS

ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

NELSON PROPOSES SCHEME °.C. NELSON, August 30. A charge of £ per cent, on all sales of electricity, both by the Government and supply authorities, has been suggested to the Government by the New Zealand Electric Power Boards' and Supply Authorities' Association as a method by which finance could be provided to assist in the reticulation of the sparsely settled areas of the Dominion. * With the, coming into operation of the Cobb hydro-electric scheme the Nelson district finds itself the only area in New Zealand with an abundance of electricity, and the Waimea and Golden Bay power boards are now interesting themselves in the extension of their supply to the more remote parts of the province. The Waimea Board's immediate concern is the reticulation of what is known as its central area, which covers the Motueka Valley and the Moutere, Tadmor, and Tapawera districts, with 600 potential consumers. When a survey was made of that area in 1938 with a view to making an application to the local Government Loans Board for a loan, the estimated cost was £65,000. The board, itself then a comparatively new one, did not have sufficient reserves to carry the outlying areas through the initial stages after reticulation, and in addition only a limited supply of power from small plants was available. Now that power is available and the board wishes to extend its activities it finds 'that since 1938 the cost of reticulation has risen to £120,000, an increase of approximately 84 per cent. In an effort to secure Government assistance to help to bridge the gap representatives of the board (Messrs. H. E. Stephens, chairman, and L. A. Higgins) went to Wellington to enlist the support of the Association's Rural Reticulation Committee. The committee's consideration of the case resulted in the proposal to the Government of a method by which funds could be provided to meet all such similar cases in the Dominion where some assistance would seem warranted in supplying country areas with electricity on the same favourable tariffs as those enjoyed by the towns and more thickly populated districts. The Minister of Works (Mr. Semple) recently . stated that the Government would have to assist in the reticulation of the more remote districts, but at the same time he intimated that any assistance would have to com- from the industry itself and that any proposals would need to have a national application. HALF PRESENT GUARANTEE. Interviewed on his return to Nelson Mr. Stephens reported that the Rural Reticulation Committee endorsed the board's application and drew up a proposal on the question of finance. It was suggested that legislation be enacted authorising a charge on the basis of k per 'cent, on all sales of electricity, both by the Government and the supply authorities. The method proposed for applying the money so provided was for up to half the present consumers' guarantee of 15 per cent, required before a loan will be granted, to be met from the fund. That meant that any sparsely settled area wishing to be reticulated would have to give guarantees to meet 7£ per cent, of the capital costs annually instead of 15 per cent, the other l\ per cent, to be provided by the Government and the supply authorities combined, and it was suggested that the combined payment continue for fifteen years if necessary. The committee's proposal was m turn endorsed by the executive of the Power Boards' Association. A deputation headed by Mr. J A Nash, president of the association, then met the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser), the Minister of Works (Mr. Semple), the Minister of Finance (Mr. Nash) and the • Electricity Controller (Mr! F. T. M. Kjssel). After the proposal ! had been i»ade to them, said Mr. ! Stephens, the Ministers stated that they ! were fully in agreement with the prini ciple of providing assistance to the sparsely settled districts and recognise,d that the Government would have to help. They promised that the proposed method of finance would be considered to see if it was suitable