HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 July 1922, Page 4

HYDRO-ELECTRICITY.

ruar. me country auscricrs are alive to the advantages of electric power was shown at the meeting of shareholders of the Okato Dairy Company on Wednesday, wKep the matter of obtaining a supply, from New Plymouth was discussed. In a few months’ time the works now in course of construction will be completed, and there should be a surplus for disposal outside the town. When the time arrives we hope favor-, able consideration will be given to the claims of the country districts—particularly along the coastal districts—for the reason that they cannot hope for electric power from any other source for many years to come. There will be no difficulty in finding sale for whatever power is available. A contract has been entered into with Inglewood; Waitara has reopened negotiations for a supply; and the recently formed power ' board embracing the Stratford and El- • tham districts will no doubt be hi the market for power. The real difficulty i will be in apportioning the surplus current available. That misconception } still exists in regard to the charges that may be made by the New Plymouth Borough Council apparent ; from the discussion at the Okato meeti ing. One or two speakers seemed to I think New Plymouth was beat on exact-* , ing more than a fair thing for the cur- | rent it may have to -sell, and quoted ! figures relating to the charges made in ' other places. The statements are misleading, based, as they are, on a mis- ; conception of the position. The New Plymouth Borough Council cannot charge what it likes, even if it desired to, for current sold to outside bodies. That is a matter which is entirely controlled by the Government, which fixes all charges and conditions. It was said at Okato that the charges in Christchurch were from £4 ,to £6 per horsepower. Conditions there are entirely different from what they are here. The ( hristchurch, City Council buys in thou-. sands of kilowatts, whereas here it ; would be a case of hundreds. At pres- ' ent the Government charge Christchurch i £8 3s 4d per kilowatt up to 300 h.p., i and £5 over that quantity. But the ■ charges have been found too low, on acj count of the increase in the cost of the works and material, so the Government are about to increase the charge to £l4 per kilowatt. We notice hat the Thames Valley Electric Power Board is charging the farmer £6 for a fiveroomed house and outhouses, and £2l for power for milking machines dealing with 7000 lb of butter-fat per annum, and an additional charge of one-third of a penny per pound thereafter, thus a farmer having 10,000 lb of butter-fat would >?.. for power £25, and 15,000 £32. Th.".'? rates are not likely to be ■

exceeded in the case of those ig powc- from New Plymouth. The <’ ?apc. - the power the better for everybody concerned. There can be no exploitation. and before criticising those responsible for initiatng and developing what is destined to be one of the biggest hydro-electric schemes ever embarked upon by a municipality in New Zealand, care should be takep to obtain the full facts of the position, when we are sure suspicion and jealousy will give way to appreciation and gratitude to those responsible for making available for the country districts, as well as the town itself, such an inestimable boon as cheap hydro-electricity undoubtedly is.