Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1920. ELECTRIC POWER BOARDS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2194, 26 October 1920, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1920. ELECTRIC POWER BOARDS.

THE Public Works Si a lenient presented lo Parliament al I ho end of lost work, conlninsDio following reI'erenee to the Eleelrie Power Boards: The function ol' llip.,(!ovormnonl: in oonnoolion with hydroelectric supply consists essentially in the ronslruction of main generation stations and the main transmission lines and sub-stations from which the power will he sold in hulk to the local distributing authorities. The latter will be left the duty of reticulation and retail sale. The Government policy will be to throw upon locaT organisations practical-' Jy the whole business side of the undertakings other than the primary general ion, high-tension transmission, and sale in bulk. In the past the only local authorities available have been the Borough and County Councils, but iri order to provide a stronger and a specialised organisation the Electric Power Boards Act, 31)18, was passed. This Act provides that several adjacent local districts,may unite and set up mrelected Power Board, with rating powers. The provisions of this Act have now 7 ' been taken advantage of by ten'electric power districts. Although the provides for inner and outer areas, most of the Boards have taken in the whole of their district as an inner area irrespective of the density of settlement, thus expressing their confidence in the development of the back country and in its settlement by farmers who will be sufficiently progressive to make full use of the advantages of electric power supply. With regard to the future the principles on which the boundaries - of electric power districts should be determined are not set out in the Act, but under Clause 3 the responsibility of deciding whether proposed boundaries are desirable or otherwise is cast on the Governor-General in Council. Hitherto no amendment has been made in the districts as sought in the petitions submitted, but it is obvious that if the- whole Dominion is to be dealt with in the best manner pos-' sible it is essential that a .comprehensive scheme should be drawn up. This has been done, and in future it will be necessary for the petitions to be submitted to the Minister for approval before they are circulated and any necessary alterations made in the boundaries. Difficulties will probably be encountered in the districts whirl include the larger of the power supply undertakings, owing to the fact that country distribution, though the most important part'of the Power Boards'' activities, and the most profitable from

the national point of view, cannot be as remunerative as the city supply because of the longer lines that are required. The cities amT larger towns, however,-must realise the ex-, ten! ta-whieh they are dependent for their prosperity on the country business, and co-operate heartily in comprehensive systems even including in each case substantial portions of less remunerative country reticulations. Five of the Power Board districts already constituted have submitted their loan proposals to the ratepayers, amounting in all to £1,1)80,000. This amounts to over £2O per head of the populations of the districts concerned, and it gives'" some indication of the future extent and importance of the Electric Power Board activities. The almost unanimous votes by which these loan proposals have been carried indicate, however, the public opinion in the matter.