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‘SPLITTING

ADDITIONAL A REPRESENT. ; CONSTITUTION OF AUTHORITY. RESOLUTION DEFEAT. ("Times-Age” Special.) "This motion is, in my opinion, a . liberate attempt to split the board a.a,_ give Masterton representation to mately control matters of the board." said the chairman, Mr A. C. Pearce, when referring at yesterday's meeting of the Wairarapa Electric Power Board to a proposal by Mr F. C. Daniell to give the Masterton Borough.an additional representative on the board. The motion was rejected by five votes to two.

In moving the motion, Mr Daniell said: "The facts stated in the Manager's report dated July 21, 1938. concerning the suggestions to establish the head office of this board in Mastertoil are an arresting indication that membership has no relation to the volume of business transacted in the various areas. The contemplated addition of Castlepoint County to this board suggests that the present is an opportune time to discuss the matter of representation, and also whether the time has arrived to re-arrange the board's constituencies. Such alteration can cnly be made by Order-in-Council. toward which a recommendation from this board would carry much weight and in order to present the position clearly, some figures indicating the various percentages of population, area, and valuation may be of interest and will later be discussed.

' “The one of most importance is that I of population and for this figures are somewhat incomplete as part only of i the three counties is included in our ■ inner area and separate totals are not available. The constituent parts of our : board's district include the five, bor- • oughs of Masterton, Carterton, Grey- ' town, Featherston, and Martinborough and the counties of Masterfon, Wairarapa, and Featherston, portion only of these counties being in, the inner area and part of Castlepoint County will shortly belong to the board’s inner area. A report dated September 27, 1918, for the Wairarapa district made a survey of prospective users for power and was no doubt the basis upon which this board’s representation was”arranged when it was established in 1921; these figures expected Masterton to consume 45 per cent of the power and the remainder of the district'ss percent, while the latest report shows the figures to be almost exactly reversed though there has been no change in the representation. POWER & GAS SERVICES. ' “The board’s district was set up without protection to community lighting and power enterprises already in existence, although the only direct competitor was Martinborough, whose electrical equipment was taken over. The coining of electricity was disastrous to the borough gas services at Grey town and Carterton and threatens that at Masterton where £1,500 was taken from general accounts last year and £2,300-is budgeted this year to make up losses. By way of contrast it might be stated that Hamilton Borough is protected by a franchise and both gas and electricity are sold by rhe borough. Hamilton manufactures slightly less gas than Masterton, buys coal at 12s 6d per ton as against 50s per ton and charges 9s per 1000 ft as against Masterton 7s per 1000 ft. “It would thus appear that Masterton is producing gas’ at a cost that compares favourably with other towns, and there, is no record that’ this board has ever consulted the owners of this community service when fixing its charges or regarded it in any other way than as a competitor 'in the ordinary commercial sense.

; MASTERTON’S POSITION. “It may fairly be claimed that with- ’ out the security of Masterton valua- ; tions and of the business offered this ’ board’s financial record would not have turned out so well as-it has done and that if Masterton had secured a fran--1 chise to retail electricity from this board within its own boundaries, as ' was done by other towns, it would have been able to give protection to its gas enterprise, and this factor would justify Masterton’s, additional representative. Our Manager has outlined major reconstruction work in Masterton to cope with prospective business above that of any other portion of the board’s area and should have all the help that local representatives are able to give. “The business of electricity is highly technical and the place of the layman in guiding its destiny must be very largely limited to his local knowledge and to his general knowledge of the financial capacity of the district. Here again, it is clear that with an established board such as ours there is less need for the representation we now have and it is open to question whether it would be better to group the smaller boroughs with three representatives, leaving three representatives for the counties when enlarged by the -addition of Castlepoint and three for Masterton. The Public Works statement for 1937 gives the total population for the Inner Area as 19,960. of whom 14,360 are resident in the five boroughs, leaving 5600 to the portion of the three, counties (Masterton, Wairarapa, and Featherston) which are included. These three counties have a total population of 10,370, so that there are 4770 in the Outer, plus 629 in Castlepoint County. The board’s .total of 1997 square miles includes the inner area of 634 miles and of this area, the five boroughs occupy 13 miles. Castlepoint county has a population of 629 with an area of 203 square miles, bringing the total area to 2200 square miles and population to 25,359." Mr J. W. Colquhoun seconded the motion.

“A HUGE JOKE.” Mr C. R. Holmes said he did not know whether to take the motion seriously or else treat it as a huge joke. Mr Daniell was almost telling them that Masterton had not had a fair go. The wording of the resolution was almost humorous. In comparison with other boroughs Masterton had received preferential treatment and it was the best lighted country town in New Zealand.

Mr W. Howard Booth said town and country should be represented on the board and there was no question about population or area. Mr Daniell’s figures cut no ice with him.

I “For 15 years this board has always worked for the good of the district as a whole, irrespective of what section of the district one represents,” said Mr Pearce, who added: “This motion is, in my opinion, a deliberate attempt to split the board and give Masterton representation to ultimately control matters of the board, and should the principle of allocation of members of the beard to population, etc. on Mr Daniell's figures be adopted, Masterton would have absolute control, which in my opinion is going to split up the happy relations that have always existed. The consumers and ratepayers have always had the service due to them and I feel that this motion put forward by Mr Daniell is not in the best interests of the board. We claim to be a body of fair-minded men, and it can be shown that under the existing representation, Masterton has not suffered in any way whatever. When the principles at the start of drawing up resolutions, etc, to carrying on the Wairarapa Electric Power Board were adopted a fair standard of representation of the district was arrived at and I believe the ratio of population has practically not changed since then. “Why at this stage Mr Daniell wishes to change the whole constitution of the board is hard to understand. These proposals of more representation for Masterton and shifting premises to Masterton, are unsettling and creating a feeling that never existed until the last two or three months. I feel that it was the decision of the board not to shift its headquarters that prompted this motion! The time may arrive when it is imperative to shift, financially and in the interests of the board and rate- ■ payers and for the good of the district. Should that time ever arrive (when it can be shown to be a distinct advan- ■ tage to the district) I am sure the southern members would agree with it and. not view the matter.of shifting from a parochial point of view. . . . TOWN V. COUNTRY. “tn may opinion you are creating a feeling of town v country, a position that has never before existed during the whole of the board’s activities. As I have already stated, I hope the board will continue to give its best to matters appertaining to the whole district irrespective of the district they represent. My opinion is that you will never get consent of Parliament to increase membership of the board, so it would' mean, if this motion was carried, the , lessening of the rural districts sentation. How is Mr Daniell going to face the rural districts when he proposes such a proposition? . . . Consideration of policy matters from a parochial point of view must result in disaster. I wish to seriously warn members that a definite proposal has been made by Mr Daniell that we should not make any further reduction in our charges so that we shall not compete with the Masterton gas undertaking. Is it right that the balance of the district should be asked to pay additional charges because Masterton has failed to provide sufficient reserves during the fifty years the gas undertaking has been established? All Masterton ratepayers are now paying a rate towards the gas venture whether they use gas or not. With this rate I think electricity users are doing their share towards helping the gas account. “I hope that the members will not be influenced by figures, to give a predominance of power to Masterton, but to be satisfied to carry on in the same satisfactory manner as in the past. I think the whole community will agree that Masterton has not suffered in anyway in their progress as far as the Wairarapa Electric Power Board is concerned; in fact, the Wairarapa Electric Power Board has been a tremendous factor in the progress of Masterton.” i Mr W. A. Tate said he was wondering whether he was on a Power Board or a philanthropic institution for the ratepayers of Masterton. Since he had been on the board Masterton had always been treated most fairly and at no time had any parochialism been shown. While on the board he never thought of his own town, he worked for the consumers as a whole. The motion, he thought, was a reflection oh the management. He was absolutely opposed to the motion and also to the proposal to shift the head office to Masterton. Members should try and work as a team and not split the board up into sections. Mr Pearce pointed out that there were 228 consumers in the Masterton County. 477 in the Wairarap South and 824 in the Featherston County. Mr M. B. Tait said he failed to see that Masterton would derive any great benefit if the motion were carried. The motion was defeated as stated above. '

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19381021.2.67

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 October 1938, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,800

‘SPLITTING Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 October 1938, Page 5

‘SPLITTING Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 October 1938, Page 5

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