£2,595,000 SPENT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19979, 3 July 1939, Page 13

£2,595,000 SPENT

RAILWAY TO WAIROA MINISTER'S ASSERTION NEW ZEALAND TALENT MANY NEW RECORDS MADE (Herald Special Reporter). The assertion that New Zeaalnders were too prone to under-value the talent in their midst, while accepting an outsider at his face value particuparly if he happened .to have “letters .after his name” —was made by the Hon. R. Semple, Minister of Public Works, in his speech at Wairoa's railway ceremony on Saturday. Disclosing that the cost of building the line to Wairoa 1 from Napier had been £2,595,000, the Minister stated that in the years since the Labour Government placed the control oi public works in his hands, many records had been maede in carrying out different -types of work. Several of these records were made between Napier and Wairoa, the Minister said, specifying the fabrication of the Mohaka viaduct as one job in which New Zealand engineering skill an-d New Zealand adaptability had proved equal to, it not better than, the best to be found elsewhere in the world.

Tlne function in which they were taking part, said the Minister, was a memorable and historical one, memorable because it brought to fruition the dream of many oT those alive today, and many of those who had passed on; and historical because it marked' a milestone in the development of transportation in the Dominion. Communications Followed Settlement One of the great difficulties in this !country had been that settlement and pioneering effort had been forced to precede the means of communication. Consequently there were people who had gone far •ahead of roads and railwave, and who for years had lived cut off ’from other communities, without means of communication. Throughout New Zealand there were 13,500 farmers and others struggling in the mud of the backblocks, without any access 1 whatever arm one duty was to try and give

these people decent communications—an object which he hoped would be well advanced’ by his five-year programme of backblocks road, improvement. Mr. Semple referred to his realisation, on his first visit to the district as a Minister, of the waste that was going on as a result of tiro abandonment of the East Coa-sl line by a previous Government. There seemed to be nothing but rust and chaos on the route, he said, the previous Government having sold everything but the great girders which lay on the bank of the Mohaka River. “Line Survived All Blows” “The line was born to trouble, and it has had a hard! passage ail the way,” commented Mr. Semple. “It has had kicks and blows from man and from Nature. Earthquakes, floods and other troubles have delayed the work but it has survived all blows, and to-day we sec it as a living reality. It represents the dreams of thousands come true at last.” The necessity of reconstruction of work undertaken before the abandonment of the line had doubled the cost of some parts, the Minister continued. That applied to part of the £2,595,000 spent on the line to date. There were many interesting features to winch

attention might be directed, these including the Moh-aka Viaduct, which, he believed on good authority, to be one of .the highest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere, and one which had been erected in record time. It had a length of 905 ft., a height of 312 ft., and .contained 1900 tons of steel.

The engineering talent and workmanship were almost entirely contributed by New Zealanders, said Mr. Semple, and many of the men had been trained on the job under Mr. Haskell, who had the engineering supervision, of this great work. In addition, other features of the railway construction had established 1 new records. Contributions of Officers and Men

“I could have done nothing, in my capacity as Minister of Public Works, if 1 had not had with me engineers equal to any in the world, and men under them who can apply their hands and brains to any problem," stated Mr. Semple. “I have seen, people look sidewise when I have made this statement, but I say that one of New Zealand’s greatest faults is lack of confidence in her own people. Any man with a string of letters behind his name can get credit in this country, so long as he comes from abroad. I want to tell you that I have been under engineers in other countries, underground and on top of the ground, and I will say that the engineers in New Zealand measure up to the best of those in other countries. Your New Zealand workers also are equal to anything in the world, if you only give them encouragement.” (Applause.) “Some mention has been, made of the other end of the line. I wish to say that we are speeding up construction as much as we can,” continued the Minister. “The tunnels are the big problem, of course, but now we have the right equipment and> thcmen. trained for their ’special tasks, we are driving underground faster than it has ever been done in this country. You cannot drive tunnels as fast as you like, of course, when you have only two faces to work on. "No time is being lost on that job, I assure you, and I hope that I live to take part in the opening of the Wairoa-Gisborno section of the railway, and in handing it, too, over to the Hon, D. G. Sullivan to operate for your benefit and the benefit of the Dominion.”