ELECTRIC POWER BOARD.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 31, 15 October 1920, Page 8

ELECTRIC POWER BOARD.

MEETINGS CONFIDENTIAL DEFEAT OF AUDITOR-GENERAL. FRICTION OVER AGCOUNTS. THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONL

BOARD'S ACTIVITIES 0ONFIDENTIAL Our readers will remember that we wrotd to the" Electric Power Board requesting that we be enabled to see the minutes of the Board. . It will also be remembered that the chairman of the Board stated that we could not see the minutes a§ editor of '*The Digger." As explained, our attitude was one of courtesy, which is more than the Board extended to the Borough Council during its discussion on the deliberations of the Gas, Water, Trams," and Electricity Committee. However, the secret diplomacy of the Board was in itself sufficient justification for our attitude in trying to conserve the interestsof the ratepayers and demand that those who have to shoulder the financial burden shall receive a sufficient supply of information regarding the Board's activities and subject to no autocratie reservation. The Board ultimately decided that the minuteg should be available and the following intfmation was rec'eived from the chairman : — 2nd October, 1920. Mr F. G. Blake, Managing "Editor "The Digger," Box 310, Invercargill. Dear Sir, — Your application of the 21st ult., came before the Board on Tuesday last when it was resolved that I should get into toueh with you and arrange that you should have an opportunity of inspecting the minutes- of the Board under certain conditions. I should be glad if you will call or communicate with me as to when it will be convenient for you to peruse the minutes as you desire.— -Yours faithfully, A. W. RODGER, Chairman. In reply to this communication from the Board we wrote asking for a definition of the phrase "special conditions," and the following communication was received : — 5th October, 1920. Mr F. G . Blake, P.O. Box 310, Invercargill. Dear Sir, — I am in receipt of your letter of yesterday, and in reply thereto beg to state that the only condition that the Board required me to impose on you when inspecting the Minutes is that you should observe the records of the work done in committee as being of a confidential character. — Yours faithfully, A. W. RODGER, Chairman. Our readers will perceive that the major portion of the Board's activities are of a confidential eharacter, and we would draw the attention of the chairman to his statement tliat the Town Council had done most of its work in committee and in effect- tried to justify the Board's attitude for so much committee work. The various reports which embrace the committee's deliberations are available to the press and are frequently published prior to the Comicil meeting. Some oi the members of the Board have protested against this procedure and we here place on record the attitude of Meesrs Fowler and Young for entering their protest by way of a resolution. When we went to see the minutes of the Board Mr Campbell stated that he had been instructed to show us the minutes but the taking of notes was prohibited.

Now why all these protectivc measuWi Have the people no say in this niatter and "as lambs before their shearers are dum, openeth not their mouth?" ^r9 are quite agreed that there are some things which cannot be made public. Take the question of finance, the flimsy fabric upon which it rests may be prejudiced by publicity and we have refrained from comment, In most cases, after the minutes were read the Board went into committee and in some meetings the Board went into committee several times and the bulk of the business done in open Board was the outward correspondence. Whenever the engineer's agreement, legal apenses, chairman's visit abroad, and other matters were considered by the Board, it was done in committee. The "Southland Times," in ari hysteri- j cal outburst actually stated that the conduct of the oBard'se meet'mg was open to criticism and such things as the Engineer's agreement could be prohtably discussed. It is too late for the "Times" to give a lead to the people on this matter. "The Digger" can safely claim to he the first journal to attack the Board's administration and make itself a lora lelt in the Board's activities. Nevertheless,il this is the view of the "Times" then why not criticise it ? It is also a fact that the chairman was to supply the press with a report. Tt is evident that the Board's methods have censored the press and robbed the people of the information they are entitled to. DEFEAT OF THE ALDITOU GENERAL. This is a question which we have referred to in these columns and the red A lot of unjust criticism bas been ferred to in these columns before. levelled at the Town Council and we refer to the Council's objection to Section 7 : "Provided that no monies shall be payable under this Section in respect of travelling expenses incurred out of New Zealand save with the approval of the Minister oi Public Works." We have first of all to consider tlie fad that the Board decided to send tlie l'air man abroad as indieated at the meeting held on July 6, 1920, when it was decided that the chairman go to England or any other country as required. In the mean time the local representative of the Au Department had been making hi®6C acquainted with the Board s books a realising that it was doubtful w het her ^ Board had power to pay tlie expen^^ the chairman, he wrote to his chif; ^ J Auditor-General, who advised f " ^ statutory power existed to engage^ ^ ^ j vices of the chairman to go abroa | quired by the Board, also that 't I the principle of profit. U naturally caused the Board some and it- was decided to ask t ie ^ solicitor for a legal opinion. In j'tfcat this was received and we unders a ^ the legal opinion held was tha ' ^ power in the Act. It will ® f » u(jitorthere was a conflict between ® t tc General and the Board whic „f a standstill the impendmg J t in the chairman. It is thuB evlde^„ ^ tba order to give a wider inte|r^® an amen^' provision of existing l®gis a an(j thi8 ment to the Act was n6ce®Vde(j for wider interpretation was p ^j-ougb the last amendments wl"cD .Council critici»ed. W. » "°l

I j'all by any statement that the proI |l arosa froin some other Board. The V lihland Board was the one inconveni'g Now that the amendment 1s \ ugh the Board are legally entitled to 1 the chairman abroad, and the Audi- | jeneral is defeated. The provision in J. amerfflnient whicl^seeks the approval ie Minister for Public Works is cap0f political influence. e Section 20 (original Act), as amendf]hk,y Section 6, Amendment Act:— In0^1 neill Borough Council considers chair- ' |'s honorarium should not exceed £500 imuiff, a'ld object to amendment as forth, important principle affect8]] Local Bodies is involved. egarding the above amendment it was ,je(] 'by the Board that in the event >ub_Section 1, of Section 20, of the being. amended as drafted by the I |]:itors'. It is recommended that the flister of Public Works provide that chairman' s salary he £1000 per rm. Now, why is all ..this to be ted in the category of confidential ? Board may explain things as they « 1 1 iSe. They may treat the Town Council contempt. The "Southland Times" ' say, "hands off the Board," and e Cr. Lillicrap: But are the Couniot correct when they say that an IP Yll^an^ Princ!ple affecting Local Bodies ' livolved? The explanation was given he last meeting that all these provis originated at the conference of Power rds and under this explanation the ncillors suggestions were regarded as Ittgjp "outcome of ignorance." To put the 4fleij£,ter plainly they originated witli the [f;,. ird and were referred to a Conference ijijic.ich was a suggestion froai the local fjj' . rd. This was some time after and conference was the outcome of the .... dster for Public WTorks statihg that he j hed to preserve intact as much of the lcipal Act as possible. t the first meeting in July the Bo'ard ived a copy of the draft Bill from the rd's solicitor. So it is evident the was authorised long before this ). The Bill was comprehensive as in■ted by th.e following ahalysis : — JiMt!:;- gkort title. mar'! : D-efmition, ratepayer, transmission Co , constituent local authority. first meeting of the Board. landci Chairman 's remuneration. kctuaij Rell for poll purposes and methods oBasaking poll. ada1; Rate, alternative, rnethod of collec&il aoil kiith and 8. Machin,ery for eollecting rate. 5/asb Annual meeting. mlikm Profit and loss account. Miit 1. Information for Order in Council. \iiUM. Addition to power boards, tunnels, distribution line. k "W-14. By-laws. v. Y'M Penalties. wiliJ-fter due consideration it was apll t 5ved by the Board. At a subsequent te « ting of tlie Board it was explained ^ at the Minister had been asked to exjgjjrte the Bill and at this meeting the _imference was suggested. OF': CHAIRMAN'S TRIP ABROADN In a previous paragraph we. have re"red to the Board's decision on this itter. The conditions are that the •ard pay the whole of the travelling penses, first-class steamer fare, railway, d other transport fares as required, and ilst\ 1 reasonable incidental expenses. The uoJi-l Act. was not wide enough in its pro»is- ion for payment of "reasonable ex;d iftlses. Arid we are justified in asking iprte ty this limited phrase should be associa1 with the terms of the Board' decision 0[it,|send its chairman abroad? managing director. iS' jP readers will remember that we upt 'k exception to the chairman letting a W^lac'1 ^e Board had decided to a^aan' The chairman justified his lifjjion by stating to us that he was in the a managing director. 18 correct and it follows that the ' 1° ^e8ated its power, which fpf|^^Ver 'n^enc'ec' 'n tlie spirit of B ^16 a^en^on of the Board was Ihe whole thing ^ t,:^J°mmerc'a' undertaking and must - 1° a commercial company pKt' Bp'. as a managing director. At a ^ joint position of ,j : Wp*? antl managing director was L^H * a meebing in the month of ^ec^e^ *^at chairman fl'Bp ' l)er annum (which is the maxi- ' [|fr am°«nt payable under, the Act, but ln8 to do with the appointment of naging director). engineer's agreement. ^Vo havo frequently stated through C0^umns IBat the Board exlsts as Piece of machinery to satisfy legislative fairements. In the first place it is con, pWed that the chairman has power to

let a contract even if the Board decides that it be advertised again. Second : That the engineers have full power over the construction department. There is nothing else but construction.The Einglneers control the books and Mr Campbell is the Board's executive officer and is responsible to the Audit Department. We have said before that there was real trouble between the two departments and things came to a head at the last meeting. Mr Bowmar is to be congratulated on the way he stuck to his enquiry and declined to deviate from the point. Mr Young is to go through the books and we hope that when this matter comes before the Board it will be conducted in open meeting. We have been asked not to publish this piece of muddling, but why should things go on in this way. As things are the executive officer's position is untenable. All this is through the powers delegated to the engineers by the agreement and no wonder Mr Fowler was emphatic that the Board reconsider the agreement. With the same empliasis as he demanded this, we state that the engineers' agreement shourj be placed on the table for the press. FINANCE. As previously stated we will not disclose the financial arrangements but there can be no harm in giving the position regarding Sir Joseph Ward's loan. When Sir Joseph Ward arrived home he found a new set of conditions existing and the position at that time is as follows : — First loan £1,500,000, second per cent., third floated at £93, fourth term 20 years with annual drawings with right to repay in ten years, fifth to be underwritten at 3 per cent., making cost £160,000. Total amount receivable £1,340,000. THE PRESS. At the last meeting of the Board arrangements were made for the Board to visit the works and to be accompanied by the press. The chairman gave a lead to the Board to invite the Invercargill dailies and the Mataura Ensign, but the Bbard promptly added "The Digger" to the list. Now we feel inclined to go a step further and say that the Board should have invited the editors of the other pa.pers and not confmed it to the four principal papers. At the last meeing the chairman stated that he was going to bring down a statement for the annual meeting and the people would he told a« mu&h as possible about the financial position. The statement is to be handed to tlie Presg and we hope it will be a complete' analysis, and we suggest that the engineer's agreement accompany it. When we are asked not to publish legal expenses and matters pertaining to muddling we are d.ecidedly uneasy. The legal expenses of £1000 (in round figures), which were published against- the wishes of the Board liave caused a great deal of hostility, hut we have a duty to perform to the public which stands pre-eminent, and when all trace of secrecy, and autocratic control is eliminated, we shall be the first to as sist the Board to bring the scheme to a successful termination. — Editor, "Digger."