NEW POWER SCHEME.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 March 1922, Page 5

NEW POWER SCHEME.

SUPPLY FOR SOUTH CANTERBURY. A PROMISING SOURCE. By TelefrapU.—-Press Association. Timaru, Last Night. Mr. Massey visited Lake Tekapo today, accompanied by engineers pf the Public Works Department, and h& was met there by about 300 representatives of agricultural, pastoral and industrial interests. The object of the ’.nvitution was to impress the Prime Minister with the potentialities of Tekapo as a source for electricity, and convince him that the report of experts that Tekapo offers an easy, safe and cheap source of power was correct.

After an inspection of the river which it is proposed to harness, details of the scheme were explained, and a .\umber of speakers expressed a strong desire that the Government should authorise a provisional power board to proceed. Mr. Massey received the statement and arguments sympathetically. He said the scheme seemed to him, as a layman, an excellent one, particularly as no d»m was required. In his opinion there would be no power available for South Canterbury from Lake Coleridge for the next fifteen or twenty years, as North Canterbury would want it all, but before he could say go ahead he must consult his colleagues, and he promised to do this as soon as possible. He hoped to be able, as a result of consultation, to send a wire conveying a favorable reply. Mr. Massey went on to the hermitage. He returns to-morrow and catches the boat for Wellington.