POWER SCHEME.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1920, Page 6

POWER SCHEME.

t to develop taranaki. PROPOSED POWER BOARD. THE PRINCIPLE AFFIRMED. A conference of delegates from local bodies constituting the Taranaki HydraElectric League was held at Stratford yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of discussing the advisability of forming a power board for Taranaki. The Mayor of Stratford (Mr. J, W. McMillan) presided, there being also present: Messrs It. H. Cameron, S. B. Hunter, E. F. Hollands (Stratford Borough Council), J. A. Clarke. F. T. Bellringer, R. H. Bartley (New Plymouth Borough Council), J. Young, W. R. Wright (Eg. Mont County Council), F. G. Davies, .1. Cronin (Patea Borough Council); E. Dixon (Hawera Borough Council), H. Carman (Eltham Borough Council), C. J. Belcher (Eltham County Council), J, Lyon (Inglewood County Council), T. Bridge and J. A. Hansen (Waimate West County Council). The chairman, in opening the proceedings, said that the apathy shown by members comprising the league had in the past been very discouraging. The annual meeting had lapsed for want of a quorum, and meetings of the executive had failed for the same reason, and it was generally conceded that the league had died a natural death. During the last year, however, there had not been much to do except watcli the Government's intentions in regard to hydro-electricity. The appointment of Mr. Coates as Minister of Public Works had given them the" impression that there was a good prospect of getting "power from the Government. The business before the meeting was the ques-. Hon of forming a power board for Taranaki, which had emanated from Mr. Wright, of the Egmont County Council, who wouid /explain ihis proposition to the meeting. THE SCHEME OUTLINED. Mr. Wright said that as the Mangahao power scheme had exploded, they now looked to Arapuni. As far as the Egmont Council was concerned, it was satisfied that the best source of power was the Waiwakaiho river, from which the great bulk of the power for Taranaki could come. These two schemes would give a large surplus of power over that required for New Plymouth, and his suggestion was that they should form a power board and purchase the power from the New Plymouth Borough Council. When it was seen that New Plymouth was going in for a smaller scheme, it became apparent that the only way to get the power was to form a board, and his council had passed a resolution to that cll'ect, but so far nothing bad come of it. Taranaki was likely to be left behind if they did not soon make a move. In other centres power boards had been formed and were proving a success. Taranaki must go ahead, 'and it would not. be advisable to depend too much on what the Government would do. He moved: 'That this meeting j s of opinion (■hat an electric power district should be formed in Taranaki, and, with that object in view, the various local bodies be asked to contribute towards : the cost of obtaining a report as io I whether an adequate source of supply [ is available within the province, ami an estimate of the cost of installation of plant and transmission lines, the scope of the report to include both methods of generation, i.e., hydraulic and fuel.'' The chairman, in seconding the motion, expressed the opinion that it would not 'be wise to rely upon the Government. He had" faith in Mr. Coates, but in any case it would be several years before the Government would be likely to do anything. New Plymouth might have more power than the borough required, and if this was so, the ischeme should be investigated, in order to let the people know if this was the best. As far as he 1 could see the Government experts appeared to treat the New Plymouth scheme as a bit of a joke. , NEW PLYMOUTH OPPOSITION. Mr. J. A. Clarke (Mayor of New Plymouth) said that the league could only expect opposition from New Plymouth. Mr. L. Birk, 'Government Ele'el trical Engineer, had reported on their | scheme and said it was right, and they j believed it was the right scheme. New | Plymouth was placed in an unfair position, because it was the only body which had raised money for a" hydroelectric, scheme, £112,0000 having been raised out of the full loan of £330,000. It was not likely, when they knew that theirs wns the correct scheme, that they were going to pay for the cost of another report. Their full scheme provided for SOOO horse-power, but they had decided f, develop only 5000 horsepower in the meantime, and could not develop the balance until they knew what the other local bodies in Taranaki wanted. .His suggestion was for the other local bodies to go ahead and form a power board; in fact, it might be better to form two or three boards in Taranaki, and then let New Plymouth know what they wanted. New Ply--1 mouth wanted to know at once, so that they could go ahead, and because they had prospective buyers for the whole of their supply. They wished, however, to give preference to the local bodies. To put the position clearly, New Plymouth had the power, and their scheme was not a joke, but had been recommended by the best expert advice. The water was there and the power was available, but they could not go on with the full scheme until they had something definite before them. His council was opposed to spending money looking for sources of supply when they were quite satisfied that they had the power. Mr. J. Lyons asked if the power board would supersede New Plymouth and take their place in the distribution of the power. Mr. Clarke replied that he was not opposing the formation of a power board, but was asking to be excluded from it. He was not in favor of "looking elsewhere for what they already had. Mr. Wright expressed the opinion that if 5000 horse-power was going to waste every day, then the sooner they got a power board established and Utilised that source of supply the better. PATEA FAVORS NICW PLYMOUTH. In reply to a question from Mr. Hunter, as to when New Plymouth could have the complete scheme carried out, Mr. Clarke said Mr. Bartley had stated that it could be completed in eighteen months, but, personally, he believed it would take that time before the partial scheme was read}'.. He could not say definitely when the full tskuat ffeuld U swnfUtsd, but,could

say that it would be years before any other scheme would be available. .Replying to the chairman, Mr. Clarke said that it did not appear likely that the ratepayer* would be willing to hand over their scheme to the power board. Mr. Davies said that Patea Borough Council was satisfied that the New Plymouth scheme was the best and was the one they wished to support. If the New Plymouth scheme were developed to its full capacity the whole of Taranaki could be supplied, -and to do this some board would have to be formed. In the South Island these boards had been a success, and would also be a success in Taranaki. His council would support the formation of a power board and a report on the best means of obtaining power, also to ask the Government to lay the lines through Taranaki. Mr. Cameron expressed his rcret that the New Plymouth Borough Council should should Want to pull out of the scheme for forming a power board. The Stratford Council had applied twice to New Plymouth for quotes, but had received no satisfaction, and naturally the council had looked elsewhere for power. It behoved the local bodies to form a power board and certainly have a look at the New Plymouth scheme, which, if it was as good as it was said to be, should be supported by the board. Mr. Bellringer explained in committee the position which New Plymouth was in with regard to the scheme. THE BEST POWER. Mr. Belcher, speaking on behalf of the dairy factories, said he thought the Government was the proper authority to supply the power, but they should investigate the matter thoroughly, as it might be possible to get mechanical power cheaper than hydro-electrical power. Mr. Hunter advocated the formation of two or three power boards, as, in his opinion, one board would not be able to attend to the requirements of the whole of Taranaki. He had seen power schemes all over America, and he was satisfied that there was no power in the world to compare with hydro-eli:ctricity. What he wanted was to get the power with the least possible delay, and this ■•mild be done if they all worked together. Mr. P. Skoglund said the object of Ibe motion was to ask the local bodies (o combine for the purpose of engaging experts to find out whether power was available. It seemed to him that the formation of a board before they knew whether there was power available was going ahead of things. Be did not favor the suggestion that the proposed bo.trd should purchase power from the New Plymouth ißorough Council, as there would be two profits to make, one for tbe council and one for the board, before the power reached the consumer. As secretary of the league he had taken some interest in the movement, and on (oolong tjirough the Act had found that authority was given for the purchase of eoal-bearing lands in connection with electricity generation. It was his opinion that this matter was worth in-1 vestigating. He believed a hydro-electric ! scheme would involve more capital charges than a fuel scheme, and he would like to see the two propositions inquired into. Mr. Davies said that the Patea Conncil would be in favor of one power board for Taranaki. HAWERAS MEWS. ' Mr. Dixon said he hoped they would till combine and make themselves heard and felt by the Government, and to form a power board representative of the whole province. The difficulty now was shortage of power, and he would tike to sec the board formed and New Plymouth join in with them. In Hawera there was an Electric Light Company, which, he believed, would like to be taken over by the Borough Council, but the difficulty was that it might not be advisable to do this if the Government was likely to come forward with a big scheme. If New Plymouth had sufficient power for the whole of Taranaki, then Jhey should develop it and there would be no difficulty about selling it, but he thought that the profits should be divided amongst the participating local bodies instead of being retained by New Plymouth. Mr. Lyon expressed the opinion that it would not. be fair for the board to take over the New Plymouth scheme at bare cost, and thus deprive that body of the fruits of its enterprise. The chairman said that if they linked up with New Plymouth to get their power that would delay the Government coining in. It was true that New Plymouth bad a good scheme, but he did not think it was a fair proposition for New Plymouth to supply the whole of Taranaki at a profit to themselves. If the New Plymouth scheme would supply enough power for the whole of Taranaki then the Government should take it over and place it in the hands of a power board representative of the province. CONTROL OF PRICES. Mr. Bellringer pointed out that the Government had control of the prices to be charged, and if the power was being obtained from New Plymouth and the Government considered the price was too high, then the price could be reduced. He moved as an amendment that the words "excluding the borough of New Plymouth" be added to the motion. This was seconded by Mr. Clarke. Mr. Hunter remarked that what was wanted was power as quickly as possible, and if the New Plymouth scheme was so good, then it might be cheaper to get power from them than from the Government. Mr. Skoglund remarked that it was provided in the Act that when a power board was formed and took over a scheme from a local body the board must compensate that local body for Its expenditure. Mr. Walter said he was a bit chary about going to the expense of another report when it seemed that the New Hlymouth scheme was the best in the province. He wanted to see the power board formed and to take over the New Plymouth scheme. Mr. Clarke expressed the opinion that one icason why New Plymouth did not wish to hand over their scheme to the board was because they were afraid that the board could not supply the power as cheaply as the Borough Council. The difficulty was that New Plymouth consumers would be taxed with the cost of wiring outlying districts. This might not be patriotic, but it was a fact, and that was why they wanted to protect the interests of New Plymouth. As a matter of fact they had received a far better offer from another source, but, thev wished to give the province the first option of purchasing the power. On being put to the meeting the i>"iendment was defeated, only Messrs i Clarke and Bellringer voting for it. Tbe I motion was then put and carried. I The chairman explained that further I action would be taken by the execuj five.