OUR SCENIC ASSETS

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 38, 1 October 1952, Page 4

OUR SCENIC ASSETS

0UR, readers have no doubt read and digested the statement in last week's issue which the Minlster-in-Charge cf the State Hydro-Electricity Department, the Hon. W. S. Goosman, made available for publicaticn in the Times with reference to the possible effects on our scenie assets of the Goverment's programme oi works along the Waikato River. Al~ though it is not, in the strict sense, a Ministerial statement ex-officio, we have Mr Goosman's assurance that it is an authentic docnment, and sets out the position very fully and clearly. It may be accepted therefore, as an indication of the sympathetic attitude of the Government in regard to our scenic treasures, the Huka Falls and the Aratiatia Rapids. As our readers are aware, there has been a considerable spate of protests, expressed in resolutions by various bodies and institutions throughout the North Island, and especially in the Auckland Province, against the threatened extinction, or serious deterioration, of the scenic assets as the result of the State Hydro Schemes. Much of this has obviously been based on rumour and speculations. Our purpose in addressing se Minister on the subject, therefore, was to obtain a clear and authentic statement of the position which would provide solid ground for Intelligent, reasoned criticism. That s what the statement published last Week amounts to. In our opinion it means what it says— no more, and no less. Our readers are entitled to pass | comment upon it, for or against, if they wish to do so for publication in the Times. In previous comment on the subject the point made was that the principle of scenery preservation, established by legislation in the past, seemed in danger cf being sacrifieed, or at least whittled down, by measures of expediency. Tlrs is frankly recognised in the statement under consideration. Expediency in this case, it is claimed, is justified by a compelling, overiiding necessity,

mainly the demand, enormously step* ped up by additional immigrant population plus our' own national increase, for industrial electricity the supply is quite inadequate. The urgency of the problem, nevertheless, has not, to judge from the statement, blinded the engineers to the importance of preserving as far as possible the beauties of our landscape, and this, we are told, is being kept in view in planning and carrying out the schemes. To what extent it will possible, in practice, to reconcile the utilitarian and aesthetic problems, remains to be seen. We may lose m one way and gain in another. The suggestion implied in the statement is that we should take the long view. There is also a hint of a possible line of action in the example cited of the satlsfactory results of co-operative consultation In the harnessing of the picturesque Scottish lochs for hydroelectricity. The hint might well be taken seriously by the people of TauI po and Wairakei and translated into j action in negotiations with the GovI ernment for a basis of representative co-operation in harmonising, as in. S^otland, two apparently incompatibie objectives.