The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1886. Public Works Statement.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1276, 29 June 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1886. Public Works Statement.

The Public Works Statement, delivered by Mr Richardson on Thursday evening, contains very little that calls for special comment. Nearly all the important features of the Statement have been anticipated by the Colonial Treasurer in his annual budget, and Mr Richardson has not that mastery of language and fertile ideality which enable Sir Julius Vogel to impart a lively interest to the most commonplace detail of Parliamentary routine. It might have been assumed from the

opening paragraph of the Statement that it would, at least, possess the solitary merit of being brief, but any favorable anticipations formed in this direction were speedily dissipated; the document is one of the longest and least entertaining, of its character, we have ever been compelled to peruse. We daresay it is desirable, it may be necessary, for the Public Works Statement to contain details of the progress and position of individual railways and other public works, but we have an impression that such details might, without endangering their value, be presented in a more concise form than that selected by Mr Richardson. Turning, however, to the matter of the Statement, we must admit that Mr Richardson has met the House and the country with commendable frankness. He ha* given the fullest details of the policy and proposals of his Department, and, 1 if we except his almost incom- 1 prehensible manipulation of the Public i

Works Fund, he has succeeded in being ! explicit. So tar as we can follow the financial part of Mr Richardson’s Statement, it appears to amount to this: The balance to the credit of the Public Works Fund on March 31 last was ,£768,780. In addition to this amount, and such further funds as may be required to be raised for the North Island Trunk Railway, it is proposed, as announced in the Financial Statement, to float a loan of The nominal'liabilities on March 31 amounted to but the actual liabilities, —payments to be made 1 during the current financial year—to [.£892,445. If we deduct the amount of these liabilities from the sum of the balance and proposed loan, we shall have 335, exclusive of the North Island Trunk Railway loan,available for appropriation. Mr Richard, son by a well-worn method Of book-keeping, by taking from one account and adding to another funds which have only a nominal existence, makes it appear that we shall have .£2,268,780, still exclusive of the North Island Trunk Railway loan, available for voting during the year. This is merely a matter of accounts and divested of all superflous and misleading figures we think the position is

appoximately as we have stated, viz, that 23,665 of the proposed lota will be absorbed by existing liabilities will be available fcr new expenditure. We have already putj lished particulars of the suras propcf id

1 to be voted, amounting to ,£1,538,700, and although the Minister has given an assurance that the expenditure within the current year will be rather less than this amount, the vote, in our opinion, is far too large. If this sum, or anything like this sum, be expended, another loan will be necessary for the operations of 1887-8. Borrowing on such a scale, in the present position of the colony, should not fee contemplated for one moment, and our representatives should resolutely face the alternative—a reduction of the estimates and the adoption of a rigid policy of economy. The proposals of the Government are altogether too ex- ' travagant, and the appropriations for , the current year should be reduced by at least £500,000

Uaaeigbborly Neighbors.

A majority of the members of the Upper Ashburton Road Board, following in the steps of the Wakanui Road Board, have declined to refund to the Borough Council certain expenses incurred by the latter body in connec tion with a recent fire in the Roard , Board district. We are surprised and disappointed that the members of the Board should have taken up this position; surprised that they should have shown no greater concern for the interests of their constituents and disappointed that they should have failed to display a more intelligent appreciation of their obligation to a contiguous local body. The Board has acted in an extremely shortsighted and illiberal manner, and we trust the members will at once’recognise the error of their way, and hasten to atone as far as possible for a parsimonious discourtesy. The members of the Board are well aware of the relations between the Council and the Fire Brigade; they know that the maintenance of the Brigade is a considerable tax upon the resources of the Council, and they know, which is a good deal more to the point, that, whether/e-irabursed or not, the Brigade must in common decency attend fires which occur in the suburban districts. 1 The Council may threaten to withhold the services of the Brigade, but it would never invite public execration by putting such a threat into execution, and we are compelled to think the members of the Board were under some singular

misapprehension when they refused to recognise the very reasonable claim for expenses made by the Council.