The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 1921. ELECTRIC POWER FOR TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 1921. ELECTRIC POWER FOR TARANAKI.

At last a definite step has been taken towards supplying electric current for the province of Taranaki, it having been decided, at a representative meeting at Stratford on. Monday, to form a power board to include the counties of lEltham, Stratford, Whangamomona and Inglewood, and the boroughs and town districts lying therein. The chairman (Mr. Belcher), who had convened the conference, struck the right note when he said that “he took it all present were chiefly interested in getting electric power, and did not mind how or where they got it, provided they could obtain the power,” while Mr. Sangster (Midhirst), after stating that in (consequence of his inspection' of the New Plymouth scheme his eyes had been opened as to the wonderful possibilities, expressed the opinion that, as far as he could see, if they were going to get any power at all, it would have to be derived from that scheme. That is the position. Taranaki urgently wants electric power, and New Plymouth can supply it, the scheme being gradually extended as the power is required. Considering the pains that have been taken to make the position of the New Plymouth Borough Council perfectly clear with regard to giving Taranaki the benefit of its electric power scheme, it seems difficult to understand that misconceptions still exist, but Monday’s meeting of delegates served a useful purpose in dissipating these misunderstandings, where they were not the outcome of prejudice, besides giving an intelligible outline of the functions and objects of power boards. It is not surprising that the discussion drifted into the question of the advisability of one large single board for the whole province or the formation of smaller boards. The fact that New Plymouth was against joining a provincial board and handing over its scheme at present to such a board, for reasons fully explained by the borough manager (Mr. F. T. Bellringer), settled the idea of a provincial board, unless New Plymouth was excluded. Moreover, in som<e parts of the province—Opunake for example—small power schemes are contemplated, so that these areas would also have to be excluded, but will eventually be merged into the national scheme. In moving the motion, which was eventually carried. Mr. Carman explained that the proposed board should start its operations where New Plymouth left off, taking in the county of Inglewood, leaving out Opunake, and making Whangamomona an outer area until it took a poll and came in when the transmission lines readied there, meanwhile being under no liability of any kind as to the scheme. The outcome of the meeting may be regarded -as an indication that there is no longer any doubt as to the ability of the New Plymouth hydro-electric scheme being able to meet the requirements of the province. There will be sufficient power available, and it is intended to develop further power as the demand increases, while the prices at which the current will be sold will be fixed by the Government, and not by the supplying authority. In view of the warning given by Mr. Birks (the Government expert) as to the probable prohibition of the export of. benzine from America, the question of*the prompt provision of electric power has become -exceptionally urgent, and as it will probably be twenty years, or more, before the Government scheme reaches Taranaki, the dairying industry is naturally keenly interested in a reliable supply of electric power being available as soon as possible. It will be the business of the power board to raise a loan for the erection of the necessary transmission lines, which can be carried through any district, though the board caifiiot sell current in any district not under its It is advisable tha thia re-

striction shall be fully understood and realised, so as to prevent disappointment in the future. A committee was appointed by the meeting to take the preliminary steps for the formation of the power board and it is evident that now the scheme has been launched there are prospects of its materialising and proving of great benefit to the province.