"MUST BE REASONABLE."
ADVICE TO AUCKLANDERS. REQUESTS FOR EXPENDITURE. PRIME MINISTER'S REPLY. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day.' "I can see the Minister of Railways with a wet towel round his head thinking the matter out, but we do want to know if he means to get on with the construction ;of the Momingside tunnel," said Mr. M. J. Savage (Auckland West), in the House of Representatives last night, in urging that the Government should put big works in hand to provide work for the unemployed. Mr. Savage said the people of Auckland wanted this work put in hand. They were tired of waiting. If only the Government would give an -assurance that this work was. to be carried out there would be something to _ look forward to, but: a£ present there was nothing to hope for. "Perhaps the Minister would get up and , announce that the Government had not made any decision, but even the Reform Government had come, to a decision years ago, and, despite all its sins, it had decided that the work should be carried out. Mi - '.' Savage ; said the Government might build the Paerda-Pokeno railway, which the member for Thames had so often advocated,' and which the member for Raglan mentioned so often that everyone was tired of the subject; It was an economic proposition, and well worth while, as it would'provide work for the majority of the unemployed men in Auckland. . ! Last, but not least, there was the Auckland Harbour Bridge, which would give great numbers of men a chance to earn a liying. Mr.- Savage hoped that Ministers would get up and say what the Government proposed to dp. Strings of figures 'about what had been done in: the past were of little use. The House wanted.: to hear the Government's proposals. : • ' ..'".' tv The Minister of Public ■ Works, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, niade no reference to any of the works mentioned by-Mr. Savage, although during the course of his reply he said there were- several projects under consideration; but as they had not yet taken shape they could not be described. • ;■ The Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, deplored the fact that the Minister had "dodged" the issues raised,-instead, of giving a direct answer. Referring to the Auckland members' representations early this morning, Sir Joseph' , ;Ward said that Aucklandfers must be reasonable in' their demands. ■ The eum of £1,000,00.0 -was being expended at present,;- on * the railway station and yardsVand'the-Westfield deviation Would cost '£tOp,OOO. ■ '.The Morningside tun'iie;! wae'estimated :i6 cost'. £1,000,000, aM. the Paeroa-Pokeno railway would; cost £1,020,000.: Those foUr items totalled £4,720,000. >On top of that Mr. Harris had asked 'that the be 'built,'a,t the expense of New Zealand.; The discussion, on -Imprest was not the to flirge Auckland works/ Members should wait till the-Publie , Works Estimate, ,as. the Government would .then know; the amount and what .could be eliminated . and- what ;deferred. That accounted for the Paeroa railway standing over for -so/long.' The Minister had investigated that project up to a.; point, but the House would, have to wait/till the Works Estimates came .down before sefting- what could bedone.■ ' : •
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19290928.2.201
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 230, 28 September 1929, Page 21
Word count
Tapeke kupu
523"MUST BE REASONABLE." Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 230, 28 September 1929, Page 21
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Auckland Star. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries.