THAMES VALLEY POWER.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4814, 23 February 1925, Page 2

THAMES VALLEY POWER.

ITo the Editor.} Sir, —The letter in your issue or the 18tb inst. over the name o£ Mr F. H. Claxton, chairman of the board, ifc in one respect very reasurring, as it indicates an estimated profit of £1246 for the financial year. There are usually two sides to a question, and 1 should be pleased if you would kindly place the following facts before your readers: In December my council wrote to the Thames Valley Power Board seeking information, asking among other questions for : (1) A copy of the Power Board’s balance-sheet for the year ended March 31, 1924'; (2) a statement of the loss which it is necessary to make up, to which the following reply was duly received: “(i) Balance-sheet for March 3, 1924, is now being audited. A copy will be forwarded on receipt from the printers ; (2) the amount proposed to be raised is £5883.” — Tnis rate’ is for the current year, and discussing the letter on its presentation to the council I naid, “If £5882 is the loss to be made up, apparently the Power Board is losing over £lOO a week.” I notice Mr Claxton now says the rate will produce between £4OOO and £5OOO, so that it has shrunk since he wrote our letter ; but apparently the amount is not the principal factor’ —it is as a “stimulus” that it finds its real value. It may be of interest to note that this “stimulur” is not to be applied in the constituent district which the chairman represents, namely, the Borough of Thames, nor yet ;in the Borough of Te Arolia, but their representatives on the board have the right to vote that it shall be applied elsewhere. In the Borough of Paeroa there is no suggestion that the reticulation is unprofitable, but the “stimulus” which is being applied is a rate 40 per cent, greater than the Hospital and Charitable Aid levy, or equalling 25 per cent, more than would be res quired to pay interest and sinking fund on the capital needed for an adequate gasworks. Electricity at such a cost to a town is economically unsound.

The letter from Mr Claxton has at least supplied the information which I sought, namely, the real reason for striking this rate. That it is not required for revenue purposes, but is purely a coercive measure, makes its striking much harder to justify. At the request of the Paeroa Cnamber of Commerce I am calling . a public meeting to discuss the rate, when its positive injustice will be more fully disclosed. The Thames Valley Power Board has done much valuable public work, but in my opinion the non-con-sumers’ rate as we are experiencing it is decidedly wrong.

W. MARSHALL.