NO FURTHER RAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1079, 17 September 1930, Page 1

NO FURTHER RAIN

POWER SHORTAGE STILL SERIOUS POSITION IN CANTERBURY CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday. There has been no more rain in the Lake Coleridge catchment and today there has been no appreciable rise in tho lake level as a result of the rain the previous day. Economies in the use of power are still being maintained. Steam trains are to be run on the Lyttelton line, but not through the tunnel. A further appeal is being made to shopkeepers to close on Friday evening. A conference was held today of representatives of authorities distributing power from Lake Coleridge, and also of representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturers’ Association. The most important result of the conference was the setting up of a committee which will confer regularly with the Public Works Department and indicate to the supply authorities what economies are necessary. This committee's duty will be to ensure that economies shall be uniformly observed over the whole area. At the conference the Public Works Department engineer, Mr. Mac Gibbon, said tho department was taking steps to provide for an extra load next year, but what they were he was not prepared to say. It was possible the department would continue to .impose reuntil the lake level was restored to normal. A motion was carried urging the department to offer compensation to private owners operating their own stand-by plants. DAYLIGHT-SAVING QUESTION YET TO BE CONSIDERED MR. RANSOM’S STATEMENT THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter WELLINGTON, Tuesday. According to the Acting-Prime Minister, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, he has not yet had a chance of conferring with his colleagues in the Cabinet upon the subject of daylight-saving in Canterbury, brought up as an urgent question on Friday last by Mr. D. G. # Sullivan (Labour —Avon) as a means of conserving the poAver supply in the province. Mr. SulliA'an asked his question again today in the House of Representatives, slating that the Jake -level was down 13ft, and there Avere less than 2Jft above the intake to AA'ork on. Mr. Ransom said that he realised the seriousness of the position, but he had not had, during the Aveek-end, an opportunity of consulting AVith his colleagues on the subject. He AA'ould do that as soon as possible. A Member: You can make it local. The Acting-Prime Minister said that it Avas not a subject that could be taken lightly. He A\*ould like to have an expression of opinion from South Island members on the subject. Mr. A. Hamilton (Reform —Wallace) : But Christchurch can have, it. SPEEDING-UP AT WAITAKI MEMBER URGES HURRY THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The Government Avas urged in the House of RepresentatiA'es this afternoon by Mr. T. D. Burnett (Reform —Temuka) to hurry on with the full programme of Avork at the Waitaki poAver-station site, so that tho likelihood of a recurrence of the present shortage of poAA'er in Canterbury AA'ould be minimised. ”1 desii’e to give notice that 1 \Aill ask the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. W. B. Taverner,” said Mr. Burnett, ‘‘Avhetlier, considering the hard lessons we are learning from the shortage of Avater at Lake Coleridge, he AA'ill put in hand immediately the full programme of the Waitaki hydro-elec-tric scheme, and lock the outlets to Lakes Tekapo, Pukaki and Ohau. “By comparatively simple dams at the outlets of these three lakes enormous quantities of summer level A\*aters could be stored, effectively countering water shortage for all time.”