THE WATER-POWER SCHEME.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10123, 20 October 1910, Page 4

THE WATER-POWER SCHEME.

The water-power scheme which has been introduced by Sir Joseph Ward does not meet with general approbation. It is, indeed, regarded in some quarters as of the "wild-cat" order. The Rangitikei Advocate says that- the great want is not motive power, but industrial effort in the factories and cheaper labour, which latter does not mean lower actual wages, but lower nominal wages with greater purchasing power of the money earned, which would result from abolition of the restrictive tariff. If the State were to spend ten millions a year on water power, the position of the manufacturing industries would not be improved in the slightest degree, but would rather become worse, because the provision of interest on the borrowed money would necessarily mean higher taxation, with greater cost of living and of course higher wages wherewith to pay for the increase. The talk about benefiting the farming industries' by the use of electric energy is mere moonshine, because it could not possibly be employed over a wide area, except at a prohibitive price. The scheme is on a par with those of the Laputan Sir Joseph Wards, who devoted their energies to the extraction of sunbeams out of cucumbers. It cannot be too clearly understood that this precious scheme will still more heavily burden the country with debt for undertakings which under present conditions are absolutely useless, and will not be required for generations to come—not until the conditions are such as will enable New Zealand manufacturers to develop naturally and compete with others in the markets of the world. The scheme could only have been devised by a plunger who is ignorant of real, requirements. The only thiug clear about it is that it will give the Treasurer half a million more to play with, but that is no reason why the people should have to find the stakes in a game in which they are certain to lose. It may also be pointed out that even if it were possible to provide electrical energy at reasonable cost it would mean present loss to factory owners whose motive power now used would become ureless, and it would also have the effect of injuring the coal mining industry.