RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 311, 25 September 1920, Page 8

RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK

NEED FOR FRESH SUPPLY i

TENDERS COMING TO HAND

The shortage •of railway; rolling-stock in Now Zealand was referred- to by tho . Prime Minister last night. Mr. Massey said he was propared to admit that . there was a shortage. ihiring the war it had scarccly been possible even to have nccessary repairs effected., The Government had been trying very, hard to get railway rolling-stock from' (Britain. .Only that day lie had approved of a contract for the supply of 25 railway engines of British make". • Those engines would'cost between,,£3oo,ooo and .£IOO,OOO. Dui'ing tho, day there had also come to hand for the first time a tender from a big firm in' England making a definite offer to build 2500 railway wagons that tho Government wanted. Ho could not say that the contract had 60 far been let, but it was encouraging to have a definite offer, of rolling-stock so badly needed. There would be trouble if before next season fresh Tolling-stock could not be had. By "next season" he meant the next wool season, and the time- when there would bo most need for the : carriage of fat stock to the freezing works and of frozen meat to the ports. He had no doubt that by tho time in question more rolling-stock would have been obtained; and the Government was not going to "stick at a few pounds" to get what the country required, NO PLEASING THEM LABOUR MEMBERS AND SAMOANPROBLEMS. . . After listening for several hours to the Labour members' criticism of the arrangements mado by the Government to keep Samoa from turning again into a wilderness, tho Hon. E. P. Lee wound up the debate on the; Treaties of Peace Amendment Bill by making a comprehensive reply. In the. course' .of his, speech, which ho delivered very late on 'Thursday night, Mr. Lee made, special reference to the Labour complaint about tlie association of Chinese. coolies with Samcan women. The Labour members knew full well, lie said, that the Chinese were satisfied with tho conditions of work in the Islands. Actually, there had. lieon a crowd of stowaways on tho.last ship that had carried Chinese/ labourers to Samoa. So the .occupants of the Labour .benches had been compollcd to find fresh grounds for protesting against' tho introduction of indentured labour, and they had chosen to rely -upon assertions that the system was productive of immorality. The trouble with the Chinese'was this i In China the wife worked along with, her husband, and was paid as' well as he. Thus, if the Chinese labourer were to take his wife to Samoa with him he would expect her to be omployed and paid as well. The Chinese Government was not opposed to the wives accompanying: theirjhusbands; and in some arrangement to bring the wives to Samoa lay a possible solution, of the difficuluty over the Samoan women. But what would the Labour Party say if tho New Zealand Government adopted this solution ? They would immediately make another outcry —this time against tho employment of the women on the plantations. a MR. HOLLANDDOES NOT KNOW BTATE MINERS AN!)"THE "IRRITATION STRIKE."The fact .that the State miners have started their, "irritation strike" without telling the Government what they want was confirmed by Mr. II- E. Holland (Buller) in tho House of Representatives last night. "There is nobody in this House who knows the whole truth yet in connection with the trouble at the State mine," snjd Mr. Holland, "and if we did know tihe wholo truth I venture to states wo would find the miners were in the right. I am not possessed of the full facts." The loader of the Labour group in tho House has claimed repeatedly that he is a miners' representative, and tho fact that he does not kuojv why the State minors aie reducing production is significant. TOO MCifIODESTY WELLINGTON'S NEW STATION. "Tho Wellington incmbors are tho most modest in the House," asserted Mr. R. A. Wright (Wellington Suburbs) while- comparing tho way in which Wellington needs were met with tho way in which the needs of other districts were suppplicd. "Look at our now railway station," he said. 'We cannot get it built. Tho chairman of the Harbour Board has stated' publicly that not a thing has been done to go on with tho station or the sea walls, so in all probability it will be ten years before the station is finished, even if it should bo started to-mor-row. -I am not complaining. It is no use." mtivelrustee bill The Legislative Council yesterday passed without amendment the Naiivo Trustee Bill, which provides for the appointment of a trustee to control the Native business at present in the hands of the Public Trustee. The Hon. 'To Hen lieu Tukino complimented the Government upon having introduced a Bill that would confer considerable bonelit upon tho Maoris. He wished, however, that the benefits of- certain provisions in the Bill had been extended to the Natives interested in communal holdings as well as to' tlioso owning lands in severalty, Tho Hon. J. Topi Patuki added his congratulations to those expressed by Mr. Tukino. "All good things oomo to those who wait; we've waited long," said the lion, gentleman. LOCAL BILLS IN THE COUNCIL The following local Bills were yesterday Tego.rtcd to, the Legislative Council by the' committee's to which they had been'- referred Wnimpkariri Harbour District and Empowering Amendment Bill; T'auranga Harbour Beard Empowering Bill; New Plymouth Rocreation and Racecourse Reservo Amendment Bill. Tho committees had no amendments' to groposfc