MANGAHAO SWITCHED ON

Shannon News, 4 November 1924, Page 3

MANGAHAO SWITCHED ON

' Creat Gathering at Shannon Prime Minister s Speech Total tost of Scheme Staled at t£,m,VQV Yesterday Shannon was the centre upon which the interest of the whole Wellington province converged lor it saw the consummation of the great Mangahao undertaking. The celebrations passed off very auspiciously and were decidedly creditable to the local committee.

• The town wag gaily decorated with bunting and the weather was excellent. A large crowd Of over 1000 people assembled at 10 o’clock and a special train came from, Wellington conveying the Parliamentary party, the Prime Minister, the Hon. J. G. Coates, Mr Monteith (in place of Mr Holland) and a party of over 200 members.

The Levin Brass Band played the .National Anthem as they arrived. The party was met at the station by the Mayor, Mr W. Murdoch, and executive of the Mangahao Celebration Committee, and citizens. The Mayor, in a ,short speech, expressed pleasure at being able to welcome the Parliamentary Party on this great day. Shannon, had been looking forward for four years to the completion of the work, which was going to be a great thing for the development of the district. Mr Massey, in reply, stated that it was an equal pleasure to he there on such an important occasion, it was a big day for Shannon, but it was a big day for New Zealand alsoi. He was glad to see all the people of Shannon and intended to have a good time. AT THE SCHOOL. A procession of cars was formed up to convey the party to the school, wuere they were received by the school children s.inging the National Amuiem. Mr Massey said he was very gkiu to have tne opportunity of saying u iqw words to tne school children, nt was glad, to see that they were ioukmg so well and happy and he hopeu tney were attending to their wot> well, obeying their teachers and. malting the best of their opportunities, wnen they, grew up and ieit school they woutd look back and know that their school days were the' best dial they had experienced. He had been ii. noitdon recently and had met tin Prince of Wales, who had asked lum how the school children of New Zea-'' la ia weft The Prince had stated th n nowhere had lie seen such fine boys-and girls as in New Zealand. (Cheers,) He would ask them . to make the best Of their opportunities and always dm their best and play tlie game, a/nd so doing, fit themselves for the great battle Qd life and make good citizens.

AT THE POWER HOUSE. Three cheers were given for Mr Massey and the Parliamentary Party left by car for Mangaore, where ih j y were met .by the officers of the Public Works Department. The crowd here numbered 1500 people. Following an examination of the power"’'house, Mr Massey was introduced by Mr 3,. Linklater, M.P., lor the district, and addressed, the gathering from the gallery in iront ot tne building. Mr Massey said heJeit that, in the first place he should thank the Minister for Public Works and -the Public Works Department ior the invitation to come and open Mangahao. He would like to congratulate the people of the district in having such fine works m their midst wild on the I'ac.t that shortly the whole country wuid be electrified. A point he would like to impress on them was that Mangahao was one of iti - most important works in the electrification'of ithe North island. This was a fact that must he kept in mind when the cost was taken into consideration. It was only a short time ago that he went down to open tlie Otuu tunnel. This was being run by electricity. Lake' Coleridge was operating and making a great improvement in living conditions'in the South Island. It was now proving inadequate and would have to be enlarged. The Waikare-moaua scheme was to

be started in the near future. Ara- - puni wa§ now in progress and the time would come when every industry and every home in New Zealaiu would he electrified. In regard to Horahora it had been started hy the Wailii Gold Mining Go., when the Waihi Mine, began to fail, it was sold to the Government four years ago and had proved a tremendous success in the Waikato. Milking machines were being operated and houses lit up and he. looked forward to the time when every house in tire Dominion would. be lit by electricity and every industiy operated by it. (Applause), He wo.uild quote from one of the Hebrew prophets of 4000 year® ago; “The chariots jostle each other in the streets and run like lightning.” If . this did not apply ■to electricity he did not know to wlua It applied. (Laughter and applause).

TRIBUTE TO BRAVE MEN. , The Minister lor Public Works, M r Coates, said that the power house would turn out about 24,000 horse power.* The head works, including the power house, cost £1,000,000 and the transmission line would cost another £1,000,000. Of this £400,000 would later be charged to. other schemes, notably Waikare-moaua. The Government’s 'policy was that, if people would take the power, they would construct works. He had to thank Mr Massey as Minister for Finance'for his generosity to him. in regard tQ hydro-electricity. No matter how tight money wae, Mr Massey

had said* niusT go ahead aui supply hydro-eiectricity.. 1C : had iieeii said that the scheme had cost tOO much ana that private companies could nave uone the busmess. cheaper.''He did nqt hunk so and a mrmer point to be-remembered was. mat in private companies had been brought m oniy . the thickly popuituea parts of tne country wouul be suppiieu. The policy oi the Department was to supply power to every peison in the country—the back bion. tanner as weft as tne city awefier. He had to thank Mr Hay lor the interest takeh in the scheme, lie was I the first man to'take an, interest m tile possibility of jiyuro-eiectricity in j tnis uisiiict. Mr lussel had come m| later and that line oiu man, Sir Wn-) Ham Fraser, had at his age, visited Mangahao and always advocated it, as necessary to the'electrification ot New, Zeajanu. in© work nad not been done without tragedy. Seven lives

had been lost in tne great accident laid two others as well. It was tm intention oi his Department to ereci a tablet on the power house to commemqrate the fact that these men 1 aa upheld the. best traditions of the race.

it, was only fitting tnat they shorn., ne remembered. Finally fie worn., ask the Power Boards to get on win their reticulation. He paid a tribute to the engineers add staff.. Ali they asked was that the country give ns credit lor money fqr development ana if tn© Power Board would now do their part and connect up the consumers everything would be/ as. n should be. (Applause). Mr Kissel then presented Mr Massey with a gold key and Mr Murdoch presented Mr Coates with a silver cigarette ease as a memento of the occasion. Mr Massey then proceeded to turn on the power.