Saga - 1975, Page 110

104
SIGURÐUR RAGNARSSON
Home-rulers, the Independents and the Progressives — did not
come to any agreement on the afore-mentioned application. As a
result three Home-rule MPs submitted a Bill which would give the
Govemment power to grant the permission. This Bill put forward
the policy of allowing a limited company, foreign in fact though
Icalandic on paper, to build and run hydro-power stations and in-
dustrial plants. The policy was supported fully by the Home—
rulers but sharply opposed by all the Independents, the Progressives
being neutral but finally supporting the Independents.
Another Bill conceming the waterfalls affair was presented to
the Parliament of 1917: it allowed for the State to build and run
hydro-power schemes in Iceland, the Government being empowered
to take a loan for this project. The Bill was presented by the
leader of the Independents in Parliament and embodied the party’s
policy in this matter. The present article describes the progress of
these Bills in Parliament, the arguments for and against each and
the attitudes towards the waterfalls affair and the future of Ice-
landic society as a whole which were made manifest. Presented are
also the opinions of certain men, eg. Jon Krabbe, a member of the
staff of the Ministry of Icelandic Affairs in Copenhagen, and the re-
solutions of the Reykjavík town council and the Árnessýsla county
council. The author attempts to pinpoint public opinion on the
affair. For this purpose the resolutions of political meetings
throughout the country are studied. They support the hydro-
power projects but preferably in the form of more numerous, wide-
spread, and smaller projects, which could satisfy the general
domestic need for electric power. The article also describes the
treatment the waterfalls affair received in the press; and for this
the following newspapers were studied:
Lögrjetta, Tíminn, Landið, Vísir, Dagsbrún— all published in
Reykjavík and all weekly papers, except Vísir, a daily which was
also independent of any political party. Lögrjetta was the organ
of the Home-rule party and it supported wholeheartedly the policy
of the Sog Bill; it was of the opinion that if the Bill were passed
the resulting project would have immeasurable influence for the
good on Icelandic financial and cultural affairs. Vísir was com-
pletely opposed to the Sog Bill policy, which it said would be
dangerous to Iceland’s future financial independence and fatal to
its political independence. Vísir said that the state only should have
the right to build and run hydro-electric schemes and industry in
Iceland. Similar views, although less pronounced, were put forward
by Tíminn, the organ of the Progressives, Landið, the organ of the