AMERICAN ENGINES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2371, 29 January 1915, Page 7

AMERICAN ENGINES

THE GOVERNMENT PURCHASE MR. MASSEY'S VIEWS A justification of the Government's action in importing locomotives from America to supply the urgent needs of the New Zealand Railways was given to a Dominion reporter by the Right Hon. W. F. Massey yesterday: The General Manager of Railways, he, said, informed the Minister that he could not conduct the business of the railways satisfactorily or with safety to the public unless he was supplied with sufficient engines for the purpose. It was explained in Parliament last year that it was quite impossible to get the engines required by' the Department in New Zealand or England in time for this year's grain season. The previous"" year very 6erkras inconvenience was caused to everybody concerned owing to tho fact that several of the engines employed were subject to frequent breakdowns.

For many years past it had been the policy of the Railway Department, instead of incurring the expense of providing new engines, to keep on patching up tho old ones, and as a consequence continual break-downs resulted. The Minister of Railways was faced with this position, that he had either to let this sort of thing go on indefinitely or order engines from Great Britain or America ; to arrive in time for the grain season. Applications to manufacturers in both countries disclosed the following situation: Britain would supply five engines in five months, ready for shipment, with one a week ready for shipmeut afterwards; the Baldwin Company would supply the whole of the order Teady for shipment in 45, 60, or 90 days, at the option of the New Zealand Government. The British prices were higher than those of the Baldwin Company, but that was not the primary consideration. We could not place an order in England' because no manufacturers in England could give us the engines within a reasonable period. Tiino was of the essenco of tho contract, and tho American firm's offer was accepted. Most people know, said Mr. Massey, that this had been an exceptional year in regard to tbe quantity of stock being forwarded to freezing works from one part of tho Dominion (particularly in the' North Island) to the other, and the railways have had an exceptional amount of work to do. Already thero,' have been shipped in.Now Zealand tho equivalent of a million carcasses of mutton in exoess of those shipped during tho corresponding period or last year; the shipments of beef have been in even higher proportion, and figures quoted by me at Levin yesterday show that £26,000,000 worth of produce was exported from New Zealand for the year ended December 31, 1914. This mean 6 extra work for the railways. "Nobody in New Zealand is more anxious tnan myself that everything that can be manufactured locally shall be so manufactured. We have either to face more loss and inconvenience or do what has been done by Mr. Hiley and hi' Department. Whenever it has ( been possible we have given preference to British manufacturers. In the House on October 23 last, during the debate ,ou the Railway Improvement Authorisation Bill; I said: 'We want rolling stock more than anything else for the improvement of our fines. I may say that I had a good opportunity last autumn of observing what was wanted. Everywhere I »rent I heard the same complaints from farmers and settlers. They said they were unable to get their stock'away at the right moment, and there was difficulty in' getting their fat lambs to the freezing works. It is clear, too, that there is insufficient engine-power, and we must increase it. The difficulty is that our rolling stock has not been kept up or maintained at a proper standard in proportion to the way in which tho country has increased. Mr. Hiley says that it is impossible for him to have a sufficient number of engines built in this country to keep tho business going as it ought to bo kept going. That is the opinion expressed by the Genera! Manager, and it cannot be contradicted. There is no man in Parliament, no man in New Zealand, who is more sincorely anxious or more strongly of opinion that our rolling stock and engines, as well as everything we require in connection with the equipment of our railways, should be built or produced within the Dominion than myself. B; we had looked forward sufficiently early that could have been done to-day . ■'. . I shall regret exceedingly if we have to go outside New Zealand for our engines, and no one would regret it more than myself. 1 " "I may add that since we came into office in July, 1912, Price Brothers, of Thames, have made for us 20 74-ton passenger locomotives, the 'Addington Workshops 10 compound engines of 94 tons, and the Hillside Workshops 24 heavy tank engines for passenger and goods work, a total of 54 locomotives completed and put on the road. At the present time there are on order 20 engines from Price Brothers, 10 from Addmgton Workshops, and 10 from Hillside Workshops, a total of 40 locomotives on order and in hand."