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The Daily News. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1919. ELECTRIC POWER FOR TARANAKI.

Anyone reading the report of the proceedings at the recent commission set hp by the Minister for Public Works to take evidence regarding the application of the New Plymouth Borough Council for the right to develop and supply electric power over an extended area, must be struck with the waste of time and money involved in bringing up an important officer from Wellington and witnesses from various parts of the province. Why the Minister ordered the commission to sit to determine issues that were as plain as daylight and to hear the more or less relevant views of one party who has a "bee in his bonnet" in connection with this matter goodness only knows. The application needed only investigation by any competent officer to ensure its being granted at once. The position is simple. New Plymouth borough needs more electric power and can easily supply requirements without reference to any other part of the province, but it can also embark on a scheme that will suffice for the whole of Taranaki. Evidence was given at the inquiry from public bodies and representatives of the dairying industry throughout Taranaki and as far south as Patea in favor of the comprehensive scheme, some of the witnesses stating that electric power was so urgently needed that it was not a matter of price, but of obtaining the supply as soon as possible. Settlers want it for their homes, their milking machines and for other «?arm purposes; dairy factories need it badly, for the coal shortage has greatly accentuated their troubles; the towns need it for streets, domestic and other purposes. These and similar needs can be supplied. But one party objects, and can persuade a local body of which he is a member to take up the objection. It is a travesty administrative methods that it is possible for so much time and money to be wasted over such frivolous objections, and that the prosecution of a scheme conferring such inestimable benefits upon the whole province should be temporarily hung up. It is scarcely worth while traversing the Moa Road Board's objections, for each in turn was successfully met or satisfactorily explained. The effect was the opposite to that which the prime mover intended. It was conclusively proved that the rates proposed to be charged Inglewood, far from being excessive, were exceedingly reasonable, and that New Plymouth had agreed to a review of the charges after five years, the rates to be fixed, if necessary, by arbitration. It was shown, too, that Inglewoood borough were keen to get the em rent on the terms suggested, m- | had no confidence whatever ir. proposed Maagaaui river sel m.

•\vliicli Mr Bartley, who is an electrical expert, and had personally obtained data .as to the possibilities of the river, showed to be limited in power and expensive to generate, so much so that if all the available power were developed current would not be sold at less than double what New Plymouth was charging. But Mr Lyon, who is a layman, has different ideas as to the potentialities of this source, and wishes to preserve as large a district as possible for his own scheme in the distant future. Meantime the rest oi the district, including the town of Inglewood, may wait for the power of which they are desperately in need. The only point of any value to Mr Lyon in his ease was that the source of the supply, being- national property, should not be allowed to fall into the hands of any one local body and . give it the means wherewith to exploit other districts in the matter of the disposal of the power developed. The Commissioner pointed out that the Government already had the power to prevent profiteering in such an undertaking. But as a business proposition it is manifestly to the advantage of the borough to sell the current as cheaply as possible, because the greater the consumption the less the proportionate cost to everyone. If the proceedings were futile in somerespects,'in others they will have served a useful purpose. For example, they have demonstrated ■the urgent need and demand for power from as distant points as Patea in the south, Waitara in the north, and Opunnke in the west. The various industries are looking to hydro-electricity to save, the position rendered perilous by the Sdearness, the inadequacy and unreliability of the supply of coal, and they simply cannot wait for another ten or twenty years before the State supply from the north is available. The proceedings also proved that New Plymouth was anxious to help the other districts and prepared to treat them reasonably in the matter of charges; and that the scheme under way is the only practicable one, consistent with cpst, that can generate a supply sufficient for the needs of Taranaki. For bringing out this information the action of Mr Lyon 'will have done good, though, of course, this was far from the purpose of his opposition.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19190927.2.24

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1919, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
842

The Daily News. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1919. ELECTRIC POWER FOR TARANAKI. Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1919. ELECTRIC POWER FOR TARANAKI. Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1919, Page 4

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