RAILWAY POLICY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 31, 1 November 1920, Page 6

RAILWAY POLICY

CONCENTRATION OF EFFORT

MINISTER EXPLAINS THE POSITION

AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT

Tho Minister of Publio Works (the Hon. J. CI. Contes) mado an important announcement regarding railway construction in tho House-of Representatives carlv on Saturday morning, at the close of the debate on the Public Works Statement. Ho indicated the directions in which ho proposed to concentrate etton during the next few years. Tho. Minister, speaking after S a.m., said that some of. the ■ members who had spoken during the debate had seemed to suggest that public works money ought to be allotted on a per head basis iha was not his idea. He bobeved thet hi duty as Minister of Public AYorks was lo spend the money in the districts f where he could obtain tho best return from a national point of view, and to avaid tnk- ™ parochial view. He was prepared to admit that tho,Estimates wero confusing. Various section., of certain im'nortnnt lines were being constructed at. fl same time, and the f*°™ presented by different votes >n the Rtr mnte« But he could assure the liouse a t?,rG Ument and the country really wanted. . d If publ c works were to bo ™V neu t0 d ° SSJ- he had also administrative fes- srsrstf 'A b s fn... there was the question of fo,,rdo n : machines, and oimili- riant Organisation, personnel, and plant were the prime requisites.

Lines under Construction. Members had said much about various railways. What lines would thuyproposHhat ho should stop? Member*: "None."-) He could assure the Houso that he 'was going to concentrate effort. Five of the lines menhoiwd « the.hsti-niates-tho Kaihu extension, the WhaZarei branch, the Waiuku branch, the u C "to Tahorn, and the, Otago Cental Crom'weU W ction)-would be completed L March'next and'would then bo out o "he Department's hands. _p ™»nra branch was being stopped. Tho Wniraato branch was being stopped. He would query tho Huntly line, but had counted ft: as a line to be stopped. When these tnree lines had been stopped, and when the live lis* likely *» bo , «""P loted within the present financial year were out of h..iid P there would be ten hues etill under construction as follow:-

, North Auckland Main Trunk.. ; East Coast Main Trunk, Waihi to Motu, and Gisborne to Napier. Midland railway (including. Otira Una and Westport-Murchison)J Stratford to Main Trunk line. Waikokowai branch. Woikokopu branch.

Manaia branch.: ■ Greymouth-Point Elizabeth; line, Orepuki-Waiau extension.

He hoped to have the Waikokowai branch and the Greyn.outh-I'oint Elizabeth ho which led to coalfields, completed will, n bvo years. The Manaia.branch. (Opunake line) was to be competed in 1322. the Wa kokopu branch and he Ohura sec oa „ the Btratford to Main.Trunk lino would also be completed in 1922. Ihe Sosition then, was that at the end of C ears ho Wdto be in.a position to concentrate-on the following otaectlves—(l) Mid and railway, (2) Last Ua=t. Mafn -Trunk, (3) North Auckland Mam Trunk. He did not wish to be understood as placing these lines in> orderot iinpoitaii6j. Thoy were three trunk lines n which the Department probaby>vo,.d finrl its efforts concentrated in the veij near future" when the small lines he hud mmiHnued wl-re out of the way. He had been reproached for stopping. theTfimaki end of the Stratford-Mam l'runk line at Tahora. The. reason for he "tonnage was that he cou dnot comlite the three tunnels beyond Tahora in nv reasonable time and give access to a ingle settler. He could spend .money at he other end of the line and giv* access •otnaratively quickly to every acre ot Sent land in the Ohura district. ri.» rnipfition of any advantage to- Auckand or did not weigh ?ith him at all. The ones ion.was what reasonable man would do in the circum•tnnces Ought he to buck away at the mneb for cighi or ten years or should to toe point tie «pend.iir* would "ive a quick result t lne rea onabe thing was to spend the money in arrving he line to Ohura or perhaps a Ruf further towards the New Plymouth "it might be unfortunate continued ■ho AlinisV, bh«t ho came from A. ckd But e thought that he had a airly open mind and that he was able n Ake a view of the circumstances that ?as not parochial. Auckland ha— , be the district that contained a mmense amount of undeveloped land ~. frnwn land A man who had to le up his mind where to spend money n»pment was bound to turn to the strict where there was undeveloped w and Crown land that .would carry e tiers and which would, give increased .roduetion and thereby justify the eNenditu e involved. He must say, much ale regretted it, that he could not see & way to undertake this year to speed p thef construction of the railway• beween Gisborne and Napier. Ho inteudd to speed up the road between those SwS. To construct the railway would ake 12 years or. 15 years. 'Sew that the country to b« servea iv this line was capable o enornU development, and that the one Mug keeping it back was lack ot access He quickest method of providing the cues', was to make the road. His Ue* mrtnidit could complete the road years tnd years before it could complete the •ailway, and it was obvious to anyone hat tno proper course, was to make the Sad first. He was going to conecntrato ipon a well-built road and complete il. Che railway for a time would. have lo ake second'place. lie did not intend to top operations on tho line, but his Ucwrtmeut would put nil the men it could pare on to the read, so that tho C s,orne and Wairoa people would have un lullet towards Napier and Wellington.

Enormous Increase in Cost. Tho cost of constructing railways in Now Zealand, as in overy other country, Tiad increased tremendously m receni years. Ho believed that the general inerease was something like 100 per cent. For example, plant that had been estimated to cost .BMOO had actually cost .Cl 7 000. The Department was paying over £i'i for cement that used to cost £* to M per ton. Iron pints wore costing .8100 per ton instead of. .€3O. 'Ihe lact that there was more money on the Jailmates than in other years did not mean that more work was going to oe (tone. All the costs had advanced, and he felt that the Minister of finance was suing to find it dillioult to keen linen with the demands of the Public Works Department. ~,,,, • The Minister pointed out that i.lio introduction of steam navvies was going to involve increased expenditure on railwaj construction, since the machines would increase the pace of the work. He believed that the quickened pace was going to mean an expenditure ot <iW(U,wu

a year apart from the Midland line, in order that other branches might keep abreast of tho navvies. If any further increase was made in tho number of machines, there must be a corresponding increase iu expenditure. Then that would involve the employment of morn men. He would want roughly 1000 additional men when he had all the work going. If the Department concentrated rigorously on the completion of the main lines, it would soon bo needing about ■£3,01)0,000 a year for construction. The development of hydro-cleclrio power also would (involve heavy expenditure. The Government's schemes and the local schemes, for which the Government would be finding 6ome money, were going to involve mi expenditure of between JC17,000,000 mid .l;lb\000,000 within the noit six years. He hoped that when tho loans -were offered to tho public they would be taken up. The Minister, in conclusion, thanked the.members of the House for their attention, and assureo. them that he did not mind critioism, whether it was justifiable or not. He maintained that he could justify every word in the Public Works Statement, in tho House or outside it.

Tho House passed the Public Works Estimates with slight discussion.

TO-DAY'S PROGRAMME THE MARRIAGES AMENDMENT BILL. The House of Representatives will meet Jdiis afternoon, and the Legislative Council this evening. The Prime Minister told the House on Saturday that to-day's business would be "general." Mr. H. E. Holland (Buller) asked whether there was any likelihood that the debate on the report of the special committee on the Marriages Amendment Bill would be resumed. Mr. Mnssey replied that if members wished it, he would be willing to let the matter stand over till after to-day, but ho was going on with the clause in which the interest of tho House was centred. The House must come to a division on the clause. If any members particularly interested looked forward to being away to-day lie would not ask the House to deal with the question until to-morrow.

PARLIAMENTARY BUILDINGS , ABOUT THE B'.ULDING CONTRACT. Detuite of the arrangement between tho Government and the contractors who are ongaged in erecting the Parliamentary Buildings were sought by Mr. P. Eraser (Wellington Central) ,on Saturday. He asked the Minister /of Public Works whether it was correct that the stonedressing yards-and machinery aboun the Parliamentary Building? had been used for the purpose of dressing great quantities of stone which had been used in largo building.? erected by Messrs. Hansford and Mills in Wellington and Aucklan(l - ~ , , , Tho Hon. J. G Coates said ho had received notice of tho question, but had been so busy during the morning tha'J ho was.not ready to furnish a full reply. He recognised that tho House was entitled to know all the details of the contract, and ho would be glad to make a statement if tho member would place his question on tho Order Paper. ,

WAR MEMORIALS POWERS FOR COUNTY COUNCILS. The Legislative Council added to the Comities Bill a clause Riving county councils power to spend money on war memorials within or without rheir own bmindrries. The Minister of Internal Affairs (Hon. J. G. Anderson), whon moving in tho House that the amendment should ho ngrocd to. said that, the provision was required in order that counties might; join lo»ethnr in tho erection of central war memorials Several members objected on thfl ground that county expenditure ought to be confined to She county territory. Questions were asked regarding tho maintenance of local war memorials. The Council's amendment was accepted.

THE END OF THE SESSION ' A eugestioiithnt if the business of 'he session could not, bo finished this wet.: the House flhould hold a sitting onjrridav niglnl and then adjourn until Mondav was made, on Saturday by. Mr. J>. Ai''Callum (Wnirau). The member claimed to ba speaking on behalf of a number of his friends who had "important private business" in Christchurch on Saturday ncsiv ~ ~ '~ The Vrimc Minister said it was quite iiiipoMfblo for him to predict just at the moment whether the House would be able to finish its business this week 01 not He would have a better opportunity of estimating the probabilities about Wednesday or Thursday, when he would be glad to lot the member know his opinion. '

IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRIES The second reading of the Iron and Steel Industries Amendment Bill was moved bv the Prime Minister on Saturday afternoon. Mr. Mossoy. explainedthat the measure merely revived the Act of 1914, providing for the payment of bonuses for the production of iron and steel in his country. He mentioned that wiuhin he last few months a gentleman representing a very big firm »' " l »'" f h » (l "en investigating the possilnlitics of tlie iron ores at Taranaki andParapara Mr S G SmiJh (Taranaki) thought that tie Government ought itself, to take up to work of developing the iron ores ot the country. Special encouragement ouglit to he k'ven vonng scientists to make re0-, dies into the development of the ores ?n II e use of hydro-electric power, sugJsicd <SW. E. J Howard (Christchiirch was put through its final stages and passed withmri amendment THE MARMAGE BILL As some members are away for the week-end and will not be beck to-day «,e chances are that the Marriage Bill w 11 not «*»•". be discussed before tomorrow.. The Government wishes to get "decision one w#y or another upon the clause introduced into the Bill by tho Legislative Council. AVIATION BILL The Aviation Bill, which the Minister of Defence introduced on Saturday, is not yet printed. It will be a Bill ot only one or two clauses providing for the licensing of pilots. The Minister ot T)efence may not find it necessary to go on with the Bill, as possibly the Government already has the necessary powers inder the existing law.. 'Nip opinion ot the Crown Law officers is being- taken 011 tho point. • ,

MAGISTRATE'S COURT

AN INCORRIGIBLE ROGUE SENT TO PRISON.

Mr F K. Hunt, S.M., dealt with tho police cases in the Magistrate's Court on Saturday morning. Yilhclmina l.link (for whom Mr. A. 1). Sievwright ■ appeared) pleaded guilty to being an incorrigible rogue m that she possessed insunV.Unt lawful mentis of support, and had leen previously coimoted of being a roguo and a vagabond. Mr. Sievwright Bugg.!ate.l that the woman should bo convicted, and ordered to come ui> for sentence when called upon. The oolicp report was that the woman was found in a Btable with a man. and both worn drunk; the accused was tho wife of i German, who had disappeared. Tho Magistrate said he was Borne to clear the nlace of such women, and sentenced accused, to three months' imprisonment. William Gordon waß charged with tho iv,»Ft nf lead ripint valued at 12s. 6d„ hf property of William Wilson. The defendant's brother, who was m Ooui-t. nsl-rd the Mapist v:\te t» !? ,vc "'c ma.n a chance Ho said his brother had been working durinc the .past four months, but appeared to have, amania for making away with piping- Ho undertook to look after hi in and en this understanding the Magistrate fined accused £1, and ordered him to'repay 12*. 6d. ami the expenses. A remand to Monday was granted in ,„ n ~!,=- nf Michael M'firath, who was charged with obtaining from Marion M'Whirtcr. Vivian Street, an electric iron, value 375. 6d., I y falsely ronrosentine that he was authorised to collect on behalf "r I'm v,.'i:.,-.»i, Fleet •'!<- Light, D»p;>rtmont. Chief Detective Ward stated t.h.xt there' were two other charges pending i against the accused.