EXTRAVAGANCE DENIED.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 227, 25 September 1928, Page 9

EXTRAVAGANCE DENIED.

NORTH AUCKLAND RAILWAY.

LABOUR MAN'S CHARGES.

REPLY BY PRIME MINISTER.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

DARGAVILLE, this day.

A reply to the allegations of extmva* gance in the construction of the Kiriko-puni-Waiotira section of the North Auckland railway has been made by the Minister of Public Works, the. Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates. Mr. J. G. Barclay, Mr. Coatee' Labour opponent in Kaipara, said among other things that Mr. Coates was the most extravagant Public Works Minister that New Zealand had ever had.

"It is admitted that the WaiotiraKirikopuni railway construction wat expensive," says Mr. Coatee, "but the experience that the Government has had in the building of railways from Auckland northwards has indicated that the whole country is of such an unstable nature that ■ it is quite impossible to think of any railway being made cheaply. The Waikiekie, Tokatoka and Omana tunnels were not let by contract; they were done under the co-operative system. It is true that a good deal of relining had to be done in the first two. To a great extent this was due to thextremely difficult ground through which they were driven, as a result of which the timber was repeatedly crushed, and the tunnel, even after being lined, was distorted so that the concrete had to be removed and more ground taken out and fresh concrete put in, but the cost was not one-fifth of the sum stated. Extra Cost of a Loop. "It ie not correct to eay thrt the Paradise-Kirikopuni loop was constructed against departmental advice. It was specially asked for by officers of the Railway Department, it being considered that the time saved in avoiding shunting would more than offset the extra cost, which was nothing like £60,000 or £80,000, not even one-t-mth of the smaller sum. "The amount of metal, used on the railway was simply determined by the requirements of the case. No more was put on than was necessary. Finding Men Work. "The statement that no man could get a job without either a letter or a telegram from the Prime Minister is th»t of a man in, desperation. The fact is

ihat for some time past I have been daily receiving letters and telegrams irom men who are unemployed, not only in my own electorate, but in other parts of the Dominion, asking for resistance or work. It is not in me to turn a deaf ear to such appeals, and I have in every case done my level best to get men int< a job to tide them over until the em ployment market improves. I am glad to say that I have been successful n< hundreds of cases, but, of course, in hundreds of other instances men have been able to get employment through the usual channels, namely, through the labour bureaus, and also through the Pulic Works engineer."