THE HUTT ROAD.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1537, 5 September 1912, Page 5

THE HUTT ROAD.

MINISTERS DECISION CRITICISED,

scope op the commission;

The dispute between the Railway Do partnicut and tho Wellington City Council ami other local bodies as to their respective liabilities in connection with (ho cost of tho Hutt lioad and railway improvement works, was briefly ventilated in Parliament yesterday. Mr T. M. Wilford asked the.Minister for Hallways whether ho would supply to the local authorities concerned in the Unit Koad Commission particulars and details ot (1) tho total cost of tho road and railway construction j (i) the cost of tho eonstrwctwii of the railway reclamation and duplication apart from the. cost of tho construction of the road; (:t) the co-=t of the construction of tho Hutt Koad apart and separate from tho cost of the constriiction ot tho railway; and (4) the cost' ol the construction of buildings, yards, crossings, etc., in relation thereto? lie Hon. Ay. H. Hcrrics (Minister for •aihvays) replied: Full details concerning the total cost of the road have been furnisiiMl to tho Commissioner, who will, no doubt, permit-tho local bodies concerned to see the information under such conditions as the Commissioner himself may nx. I regret I cannot comply with the request to supply tho information under ho various headings referred to bv tho honourable member. ' * J . lr -,S ri K or 4 6ai « Uwt it was absolutely unjustifiablo to withhold the information for which ho had asked the Minister. If Mr. Hcrrics consulted tho Minister for Jus ice the latter would tell him that if ho took a Supreme Court action against" the local bodies concerned, thev could, by interrogatory,'obtain full particular of tho claims against them. Tho Minister s statement that tho Commissioner would permit tho local bodies acec« to tho information desired was not satisfactory At first tho local bodies had understood that tho whole cost of tho railway, and road improvements was to bo iIOO.OCO. As a fact, over ,£300,000 had been expended. Large quantities of spoil had been taken, from tho roadside and used in railway reclamation, and tho local bodies wanted to know- how much had been spent respectively on the road and on tho rail- }«»}'• Ho asked the Minister to give the local bodies full details of the claims against them, so that they might defend themselves. The course which the Minister was taking would entail further needless cost to tho taxpayers. The Hon. W. H. Hemes (Minister for Hallways) said that tho commissioner had been appointed to determine what each local body ought to pay. This was tho scope of the commission. He had not set up the commission, but he understood that it would bo his duty not to consider whether tho charges were right or wrong, but what each local lwdy should pay, " Mr. Wilford: Why can't he give us the billf

Sir. Hemes: You must go to tho Commissioner and gat it. Mr. Wilford: We can't (jet it. Mr. Herrios: That is the Commissioner's fault, and not mine. Ho added that ho would not uso his influence with the Commissioner to induce him to supply tho details. It would at onco ho said, if ho did so, that tho Government was interfering to prevent tho Commissioner doing his duty fairly.