67

D.—l

Electric-power Bo aim is. The retriculation of the electric power supplied in bulk from the Government power-stations is intended to be undertaken by the Electric-power Boards, arrd twenty-three such Boards have irow been constituted, as detailed in the attached table. These cover a total area of 31,141 square miles, or 30 per cent, of the area of the Dominion, and include a population of 470,087, or 38-5 per cent, of the total population of the Dominion; so that about one-third of the Dominion is provided for by the Power Boards already formed. The subdivision of the whole Dominion into suggested electric-power districts as outlined in the last Statement provides for forty-one districts, and nineteen of the above twenty-three correspond closely to the subdivisions proposed.

Electric-power Boards of New Zealand as constituted on 1st September, 1922.

In addition to the twenty-three districts already constituted., petitions have been circulated or other preliminary steps taken to constitute Electric-power Boards in the following districts : — Population. (Squ^. e °Milos). Waipawa .. .. .. .. .. ... 8,534 1,235 Tauranga .. .. .. .. .. ..6,197 651 Marlborough .. .. .. .. ..16,967 437 South Canterbury .. .. .. .. .. 40,657 5,100 Otago .. .. .. ... .. ..108,604- 4,126 TeKuiti .. .. .. .. .. .. 8,568 1,115 Selwvn .. .. .. .. .. .. 10,455 2,281 Grey Valley .. .. .. .. .. 11,953 1,452 Otago Central .. .. .. .. .. 5,121 2,684 Wairere Falls Totals .. .. .. .. 217,056 19,081 With regard to the sources of supply of the twenty-three districts constituted, four are now taking supply from Horahora,, three have arranged to take supply from Lake Coleridge, seven propose to take supply from Mangahao, one has arranged to take supply from Arapuni, one has arranged to take supply from Waikaremoana, three have arranged to construct their own power-stations, and four have not yet decided upon their source of supply but will require to make their own arrangements : that is to say, sixteen out of the twenty-three have been formed to take supply in bulk from the Government, and the other seven will probably also take such supply as soon as it is available. Out of the twenty-three districts sixteen have already laid out their schemes of reticulation and taken their loan polls. The total amount of the loans is £4,886,500. This amounts to 5-4 per cent, of the unimproved rateable value of the districts concerned, and £14 per head of population of the districts concerned. It is anticipated that each Board will so arrange its scale of charges that the whole of the annual costs, both working-costs and capital charges, will be paid out of the, revenue received from consumer's ; but if the whole of the interest at an average, rate of 6 per cent, were a charge against rates it would amount to about |d. in the pound on tire unimproved value, arid proportionately less on the capital value. It will be noted that the loan polls in the various districts have been passed by an average majority of fifteen to one —in other words, the ratepayers have been practically unanimous in approval of the loans.

Name of Electric-power District. Proclamation Number Approxi- v> ,,„ n ., B , t ,„ Voting for Loan Poll. constituting of mate B ODulat ion Pronlrtv Amount of _ District Members Area of Population. Iroperty Loan _ gazetted. on Board. District. (unimproved). For Against. I Against. Southland Thames Valley Te Awamutu Cambridge Banks Peninsula Wairarapa Central Wairoa Springs-Ellesmere .. Teviot Opunake Auckland Ashburton Manawatu-Oroua Dannevirke Horowheniia Wanganui-Rangitikei Tararua Taranaki Hutt Valley BulletWestland .. Reefton i Sq. Miles. £ £ 19/11/19 12 9,986 65,450 13,600,471 1,500,000 6,516 415 8/1/20 ,12 2,304 16,000 6,814,993 550,000 1,503 28 8/1/20 10 309 6,000 1,759,558 120,000 359 8/1/20 8 104 5,000 1,683,632 60,000 198 3 8/1/20 7 372 3,500 3,430,81.7 100,000 331 23 25/3/20 9 2,073 21,800 3,114,718 260,000 1,704 225 8/7/20 7 300 9,110 3,667,904 200,000 515 19 29/7/20 10 1,369 3,900 2,417,251 100,000 504 31 8/7/20 7 242 5,400 2,627,468 60,000 302 16 22/7/20 7 120 1,800 169,137 35,000 191 27 18/8/21 7 240 3,227 536,153 70,000 170 20 1/4/22 12 227 128,000 2.1,502,118 600,000 4,179 288 17/11/21 12 2,542 16,691 9,316,863 296,500 1,590 96 1/12/21 12 1,301 38,330 12,944,573 500,000 .1,144 96 11/8/21 10 076 11,848 3,555,382 175,000 651 93 1/12/21 9 630 11,795 3,403,255 260,000 973 26 1/12/21 12 2,614 41,564 10,864,130 Poll not yet taken. 23/3/22 10 700 8,485 2,859,070 19/5/22 7 1,969 34,558 2,865,396 6/7/22 9 471 22,450 2,659,074 11/5/22 5 1,818 10,057 686,209 28/10/20 9 750 3,272 196,268 30/6/21 5 24 1,850 59,316 415 28 3 23 225 19 31 16 27 20 288 96 96 93 26 Totals 31,141 470,087 110,763,756 4,886,500 20,830 1,406 31,141 470,087 110,763,756 4,886,500 20,830 1,406