PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 626, 14 July 1882, Page 2

PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

The following is condensed from the Public Works Statement by the Minister for Public Works, the Hon Walter Woods Johnston. After preliminary the speaker said : " Hon members will find attached to this statement the ordinary tables and statements of expenditure and liabilities, etc. Before proceeding to the details of the expenditure during the past year, I may remind tho House that although an appropriation was taken last, year for a verylarge sum, £1,81*2,554, or rather more than the unexpended balance of the Public

Works Fund in hand on the 31st March, 1881, yet owing to the inability of the colony to enter the London money market for a further loan befoie nest December, a;>d the consequent necessity for husbanding our means, we only spent during the year, as the Trensuier li a told us, the sum of £935.508, thus leaving iv hand on he 31st March last a balance of £924865. T,ie public works liabilities outstanding have also slightly decreased, as compared with the previous year, being, at the close of the last financial year, £540,528, while they were on ihe 31st March, 1881, £588.623. I beg to call the particular attention of hon members to the rale of expenditure, because the Government does not da. ire to an-icipate any portion of the loan before it is raised, and therefore it may happen that further contracts will be entered into dining this year than during ihe last. Last*year wo disbursed it- ')y a million, and incurred liabilities to mo'-o'ihan half a million. We began the curiont financial year with £924,000 in hand available for tho year's disbursements, and we propose not to incur liabilities in excess of tliis amount until after the loan has been floated. We shall probably, therefore, reach iho termination of the financial year with only such outstanding liabilities as we may incur after the floating of the loan, consequently when hon memheis meet next session it is probable th' y will find the three million loan but Itlle encroached upon. MAI'.WAYS. Huninui-Bliiif.—lion, members will find in the report from the Manager in charge, a iv 1 stai.-uieut of the work done, both on the main line and on the various branches, lean here only nriefly indicate the nature of the work umiertal en during the p .st year. We have constructed upon the main lino the section through the Weka Pass from Waipara to Waikari, and this was opened for traffic shortly after the close of the financial year. A contract bas been let for the formation from Waikari to Hurunui, and for the bridge over the Hurunui. The designs will shortly be completed. Wo have also made considerable progress in the construction of the branches, the expendiluie, including nihilities on improvements to portions of the main lines and branches previously opened for traffic', amounted to £208,020, the chief items being sums on account of new stations at Timaru, Duntroon, Port Chalmers, ar.d Dunedin ; for considerable additions to stations at Ashburton, Oamaru, Palmerston, Mosgiel and Invercargill ; and for the lengthening of the Rakaia j bridge about 100 ft. It is estimated that over £280,000 additional, besides outstanding liabilities amounting to £98 000 will be required for further additions and improvements to the opened lengths. Of this sum. however, probably some £45,000 or £50.000 will not come in course of payment during the next three years. ROADS. Middle I .and—The principal road works undertaken have been metalling ond other improvements on the road from the Wairau river, near Blenheim, to the Polorus bridge, and s now road from .hence to Nelson; The Roe Valley bridges and other improvements on the road from Nelson to Westport and Greymouth ; the Clarence River bridge, for which the ironwork has been ordered from England; and the road from Kaikonra lo \VYiau, and the Waiau bridge. In addition to these may be speci-dlv mentioned tho Rakaia Gorge bridge in Canterbury, and Forest hill tramway in Southland. The whole of the woiks executed are of great utility, having been much required to keep pace with the increasing demands of settlement. iMtoeosAbs wi. Tin. Fin-UK. I now come to the proposals for the current year, which com.'rise the scheme of distribuiion of the loan .■.> far as it is available for railway cons;ruction over such of the works authorised as the Government consider should be pushed on as rapidly as possible. There is a clear balance, after providing for all money liabilities actually incurred, of £384.000. But I have already indicated that to comp et. and properly equip our opi'U lines will require a large sum, which is estimated at £37(1,000 during the next three 3'ears; and this expenditure is not only necessary, as I have shown on account of the unexpected and large increase of traffic, but will also materially facilitate the working of the lines, and it is expected will add to netfc revenue ; so that even without making provison for land purchases, and without commencing any further construction works, tho required additions and improvements to open lines will practiuallyexhaust the whole sum of £384,000 in hand on 31_t March. The greater part of this expenditure is for works at Dunedin, Auckland aud Timaru, the remainder being required for additions to tho workshops at Hillside and Addington, for such share of the cost of heavier rails as is usually debited to loan, for minor works upon over 1300 miles of railway, and for additional rolling ! stock, a necessary expenditure, for a con | siderahle portion of which the House will be asked to make provision this sessionIt will, I think, he convenient if we assume, for the purpose of simplifying the statement, that £100,000 needed during the current year by the Native Minister will he found out of the new loan, thus enabling the balance in hand to provide for the proposed expenditure upon open lines, and leaving the consideration of the question how best to apply the three million loan to further construction uncomplicated by the necessity of an allocation for improvement or for further rolling stock. In considering what shall be the works to be recommended for prosecution, look in first place at probable cost of completing the connection between Auckland and Wellington, and between Picton and Invercargill, and of other trunk lines. This cost is estimated to be as follows :— From Te Awamtitu southwards, £1,100,000 to complete Napier to Wellington and connect with the New Plymouth and Foxton line, £670,000 ; to complete the New Plymouth—Foxton line, £75.000 ; to connect Picton and Christchurch, £1,200,000 ; to connect Nelson and Greymouth, £1,200,000 ; to connect Helensvillo and Kawakawfi, £880,000; to construct the Otago Central, £1,000.000 ; total, £0,125,(100. When further we consider Hint to complete the branch lines now in course of construction it will cost over £700,000, aud that in addition there is a large annual expenditure upon public roads.immigration,liariiors and lighthouses, L'i'ildfields and (olograph extension, besides -omc £200,000 required to complete our .lT.nsHoliony in Native lands, it will be seen .hat a loan of ten millions to provide for ill these objects would not bave been .xccsoive. But the Government believed ' ,

that to increase our public debt by £1.000,000 per annum was as much as prudence would permit, and tbat it was inadvisable to take authority to raise this annual million for a period ot beyond the time for which this House is elected. With the exception that it is prepared to recommend the House to make special provisions for tho consideration of tha line fcom Te Awamutti southwards, these considerations determined Government to limit the, amount of the loan for immigration and general public works to three millions only, as announced in the Financial Statement, despite the fact that this sum can only accomplish a part of what it desires to be accomplished; and it has decided to recommend the following apportionment cf the loan : — Railways — Kawakawa, to complete £1.7,500 Whangarei and Kamo, to complete, £7500 _ Ilamibon and Cambridge, to complete, £50,300 Hamilton and Te Aroha, to complete, £92,000 Thames. Te Aroha, Grahamstown to Kopua, £23,000 Main trunk line from Te Awamutu southwards, £10,000 Napier and Woodville, to complete, £160,000 Wedington and Woodville extension from Masterton, £200,000 New Plymouih-Foxton, to complete line of 195 miles, £75,000 Nelson-Roundell extension from Belgrove, £40,000 Grevmoutb-Reefton extension towards Reefton, £100,000 Main trunk line through South Island extension southwards from Blenheim, £90.000 Completion of Weka Pass and Horsley Dowos sections, including bridge over Huiunui, £75.000 Main l.unk line extension northwards, £180.000 Upper „_shburton branch extension, £15,000 Lincoln and Little P.iver, to complete, £30,000 Albury Creek Branch extension to Burkes Pass, £35,000 Oxford to Sheffield, to complete, £12,000 Livingstone branch, lo complete first section, £22,000 Palmers.on and Waihemo, to complete, £18,000 Catlin's Biver branch, to complete section from main line to Port Molyneux road, £22,000 Waipahi and Heriothurn, to complete section to Swift's Creek, 12,000 Edendale-Toi Tois, to complete section to Mokoreta, £13,000 Otago central extension, £300,000 Lumsden and Marroa branch, to complete to Centre Hill. £35,000 Riverton Orepuki, to complete, £16,000 Total, £1,650 000 Purchase of Native lands, £200,000 Public buildings, £200,000 Immigration, £200.000 Roads lo open up Crown lands, £200,000 Roads and bridges, £100,000 Roads, wharves, and bridges north of Auckland, £100,000 Gold fields, 100,000 Harbors, £100,000 Telegraph extension, £590 000 Total, 1.350 000 Grand total, £3,000,000. [Want of space como'ds us to hold over further extracts till next issue]