ELECTRICITY FOR FRANKLIN.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 601, 21 January 1921, Page 2

ELECTRICITY FOR FRANKLIN.

(To the Editor). . ] Sir,—With your kind permission I vould be pleased ,f you will allow me pace in your valuable columns to five your readers a little more in’ormation on the subject of electric-] ty for Franklin. In one part of lour leader in your issue of the 18th nst. you assume that the Franklin Council has been hasty in granting an option to Messrs. McEvven, Hutton and Co., Ltd., of Wainku, over the area mentioned. I may state that negotiations were in procress for nine months before finality was reached, and I personally was ir attendance at all meetings in connection with this matter," and it i; mly now after all these months thpi '* l y objections to the area granted t> this firm have arisen. It hardly ■cems reasonable to me that afte '■aving aroused enthusiasm in tlv district regarding the uses and advantages of electricity, that the Waiku Company should be expected, as vou suggest, to give away territory to any individual who may think he 'ms a waterfall suitable for a hydroelectric scheme. There is one other matter I would wish to deal with, that is the price of electricity generated by water, and the pi ice of electricity generated by coal with suction gas plant. You would make •t appear that our scheme would be extravagant and costly compared to the Mauku scheme, and that the people in that area would be at a great disadvantage. I would mention, for your information, that the price to he charged in our scheme is lid per unit for lighting and 5d per unit f or power,, less Id per unit discount for payment on or before the 20th ■>f each month. Now, sir, the Cambridge Power Board has recently contracted with Horahora, and the consumers are to pay 9d and 5d per unit for light and power respectively, with no discount. I would ask your readers to conside this, and draw their own conclusions.—l am, etc., WILLIAM McEWEN.

Waiuku, Jan. 19th, 1921. One point touched upon in our 'eadcr of the ISth inst. and to which Mr. McEwcn has not replied, is that of the uncertainty of the coal supply and the_ fluctuation of its price. Hydro-electricity certainly eliminates the vagaries of the coal mining fraternity.—Ed., “Times.”