WAIPORI EXTENSION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26622, 19 November 1947, Page 4

WAIPORI EXTENSION

MANUFACTURERS SUPPORT SCHEME FUTURE OF POWER SUPPLY Serious consideration has been given by the Otago-Southland Manufacturers’ Association to future electric power supply position in relation to industry, and a statement on the subject was made to the Daily Times yesterday by the secretary of the association, Mr F. L. Hitchens. Many conflicting reports had '-been receive'd by the association concerning the potential period of shortage in'the future, Mr Hitchens said, but one incontrovertible fact which stood out was that a full and adequate supply of power would not be available for a period of from, three; to five years, although reports on the Coal Creek scheme gave , . manufacturers no promise of full-scale development for about nine years. “This feeling of insecurity with its wide and possibly detrimental effects on employment and production, and the ultimate hardships which' could arise -from these conditions, was a determining factor in the association’s conclusion that it should be fully behind the proposed scheme of the experts who were brought in to report on the proposal to extend the City Council’s Waipori scheme,” said Mr Hitchens.

Details of the scheme which had already appeared in the press had a great appeal to manufacturers, he added, particularly as its adoption would make possible an extension of industry, a project which during the past 12 months had been regarded with much uncertainty;

Mr Hitchens said that the association felt that the scheme was of such great importance that it proposed to hold a special meeting at a later date to consider the project fully and the best means by which it could support the progressive efforts recently outlined by the City Council’s Electricity Committee.