HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1921, Page 6

HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

WIRES TO AND FROM MINISTER.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Stratford, May 5. With the object of ascertaining the position regarding the probable time it will take for the Government hydroelectric power to reach Taranaki, the following telegram was despatched to the Hon. J. G. Coates (Minister of Public Works) by Mr. J. W. McMillan (president of the Taranaki Progress League):—

“Minister of Public Works, Wellington.—The Mayor of New Plymouth, in opposing one provincial power board, publicly stated it would be twenty years before the Government power would be available in Taranaki. Your predecessor estimated five years under normal conditions. Can you telegraph refutation of the Mayor’s "statement?— McMillan, president, Progress League.” The following reply was received by Mr. McMillan last night: “In reply to the matter of when Government power will be available in Taranaki, this entirely depends on the funds at the Government’s disposal, the amount of which nobody can at present forecast, but I am satisfied that power will be available in much less than 20 years. But -irrespective of whether power is obtained from Government stations or Waiwakaiho, I consider that a provincial board is preferable to a number of Smaller controlling authorities.”