ELECTRIC POWER FOR TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 June 1920, Page 7

ELECTRIC POWER FOR TARANAKI.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—There is no doubt in my mini that If the province 19 to be supplied with electric power in the near future the Taranakl people will hare to devise a scheme ot their own. The New Plymouth people claim to have a .scheme which will be sufficient for the province for a good many years to come, and while t>ot doubting their contention there are points to be considered which should not be overlooked. It can haTdly.be said that Taranakl has been thoroughly prospected in tjie direction of proving its possibilities so far as the generation of electric energy is concerned, and in ray opinion it would not be wise for the rest of the province to "go blind" on the New Plymouth scheme until it was proved conclusively that no better scheme could be developed. If, after a thorough investigation, the New Plymouth scheme Is proved to be the better one for the province then' by all means this scheme should bo developed ns quickly as possible, but before any scheme is generally adopted by the province a. full investigation of all possible sources of supply should be made. The resolution passed at the conference at Stratford last Wednesday expressly stated (and this fact was omitted from your leading article of to-day's date) that the scope of the report should include the method of generating electricity by means of the use of fuel. The question of generating electricity by hydraulic onefhgds has so obsessed the minds of most people that this other method has almost been forgotten. There Is an abundant supply of coal, practically untouched In Taranakl, and surely it Is worth • while having an Investigation made of the posslbllites of providing cheap electrical power by having a power station erected In the Immediate vicinity of a good field. Electric Power Boards have the necessary authority to acquire by purchase or otherwise any fuel hearing lands that may be necessary for the purpose of generating electricity* and this f#ct emphasises the Importance of a thorough investigation of this source of supply. I am quite convinced that before any existing scheme Is taken up by the province a thorough ihtestlgatlon of all available sources of supply within Taranakl should be made.— t am, etc.,