PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 4 October 1930, Page 7

PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT

(Per favour of Government.)

(Concluded.) WELLINGTON, October '3. 7 BELIEF WOKKS. The position regarding employment has received close attention, and every effort has been ma.de to offer employment to the greatest .number of men that it has been 1 possible for the Department with available moneys to employ. At the present time the number of men engaged both on relief works, and, pn ordinary standard works is in the vicinity of 17,000. At the moment, of writing there are. 4,939 men/employed by the Department on/ relief works which for the most port are situated in the outback Ureas. ROAD CONSTRUCTION. My remarks 011 railway-constructio.it are in some ways applicable to road--construction, is so far as, under the extreme necessity of providing employment, roads have been made that ill some cases are beyond the financial capacity'’ - of the ' Ipcal nuthord;tes to maintain, and are certainly years ahead of the ■ demand of progressive settlement. -A-road, no less than a railway-line, ,,{3 a liability on the community if/it is not receiving its full share of/use and assisting by the added facility which it provides to increase .the'production of the country and to .' lessen the cost of transportation. T'propose, during the coming recess to thoroughly investigate this position.

PROVISION FOR, RAILWAY- • CONSTRUCTION. .

y The sum. available under this head is £1,570,000.- I have necessarily framed the- estimates for the year according to- the requirements- of the works , now- in progress,. and . honour--, able members must bear in mind that,:, half the financial year - is past, and that - approximately■ one-balf of the finan-, cial .proßsapiitt- now.; being submitted for the . Approval (if tl?e House has been useHcife -cannot anticipate the'

ad]‘ustments that may be found necessary as the result of the investigations of the special Committee and the ultimate findings of Parliament and-the Government based theron, hut I am convinced of the importance of considering other avenues of employment which may be imposed as the result of curtailments found necessary in the railway construction programme. alternative measures. It must he patent to honourable members 'that alter 11 Live measures ’aiming to keep men in employment or to absorb a number of men now out of employment must take time to mature and to bo put into, operation, whether these take the, form of the ■Unemployment Bill or concerted efforts in regard to land-development, increasing the area of State forest plantations, providing additional public buildings, irrigation, and grade-ease-ments on open railway-lines. The growing, expenditure as far as arterial roads are concerned, the‘everincreasing mileage of permanent construction laid down, lias to some extent operated disadva.ntngeously in regard to the backblocks settler. A moment’s thought will show that the full use of the main roads is not reached until a reasonable adequate measure of assistance is given to those who are developing the out-lying areas and who in many cases have had to put Up with little more tliali bullock-' tracks as their means of communication.

The question of assistance to the backblocks settlors in the way of improved road access which was the subject of special mention by my predecessor in his Public Works Statement of last year, has had my sympathetic support, and arrangements have been made this year for the vote providing for access to outlying districts to be materially inereased.

TIIO large expenditure on tho development of hydro-electric-power works which was being incurred by the Department caused me to carefully review the position under that heading, .. aiid the result of my investigations is that I consider the Government is endeavouring to keep up with the. demand for bulk supply of electrical energy in adopting a sound policy. The investigations I have made into the /financial aspect of the main systems of jfinpply at present operating give .gratifying results. • '■ * f ELECTRIC-SUPPLY ACCOUNTS. ■ V'A gratifying feature of the financial

position of the Electric Supply Ac-

count is the net revenue earned at the various stations. The amount at present invested in this branch is £9,205,885, which is received as a. credit from the Public Works Fund an-

nually as required. As the works are brought into commercial operation tho Electric .Supply Account is called upon to cai r.v ail the charges on the amount advanced, provision lor renewals and t.epmciaticni, with the result as shown. Capital expenditure on all schemes lias i.veit somewhat lower than in the previous year, the total being £738,LcO. ’i lie recuetion dees not mean any great slackenmg-off in development, as the reduction has been caused by the late delivery of materials which were due actually towards the close of the year, but which have actually come to hand early in the present year.

The total revenue for the year, was £681,792, as agiiint £516,127 for the previous year, an increase of 32 per cent. As power became available at Arapuni the amount of power that had to be purchased from outside sources or generated in more expensive auxiliary plants was reduced, and in consequence a better return obtained on the capital in operation. On the whole of such capital a percentage of 6.98 was earned, as against 5.62 last year.

ELECTRICAL SUPPLY AUTHORITIES ACTIVITIES.

The Department, being a wholesale supplier of electricity, depends on Power Boards and ether electric-supply authorities to undertake the retail distribution side of the business. AH electric-supply authorities operate under licenses-issued pursuant to the provision of the Public Works Act and subject to regulations made under that Act. This enables the Department to exercise a measure of control over them, which, however, is more in the nature of co-operation and assistance than of restriction.

The capital invested in the 'Government supply schemes is £9,205,885 (of which £8,856,387 was in operation at 31st March, 1930), and the capital invested by the associated electricsupply authorities buying electricity from the Department is £12,337,647. In addition to the above amounts, there is a sum of £6.467,111 invested by electric-supply authorities pcssesing their own generating-stations and electric lines isolated from Government supplies. The total sum invested in the electric-supply business

at the end of the financial year was £28,010,643, and the total revenue received for the year £4,214,987. After paying working-costs (£1,871,670) and capital charges "(£1,578,823), -the net profit for the whole Dominion was ££764,494, which indicates that the electric-supply business as a whole is in a healthy condition.

At the present time there are ninetyeight electric-supply authorities in the Dominion, and, of these, seventyseven showed net profits aggregating £784,494, which indicates that the losses aggregating £76,916 for the year under review. ,

There are forty Electric-power Boards actively engaged in the electric-supply business, and twenty-six of these aie bulk supply customers of the Government. Rates totalling £6,964 were collected in the case of three Boards taking Government supply, whereas a sum of £89,393 was collected in the case of five Boards in the other category. EXPENDITURE. The total net expenditure under all votes and accounts appearing on the public-works estimates for the financial year ended 31st. March, 1930, w r as £B,258,686. Of this sum £4,704,673 was expended out of General Purposes Account, and the balance, £3,554,013, out of special accounts. WAYS AND MEANS. £ On the Ist April, 1929, the available ways and means for public-works purposes were 3,889,083 £ Additional funds were received as follows: (a) Under Finance Act, 1927 section 2 (public works) 729,036 (b) Under Finance Act, 1928, section 2 (public works) 583,229 (c) Recoveries on account of expenditure of previous years 62,859 (cl) Ellesmere and Forsyth Reclamation and Akaroa Railway Trust Account receipts 1,612 £5,265,819 The net expenditure on works and services against the General Purposes Account for the year was— £ (a) Under appropriations ... 4,386,515 (h) Under Lake Ellesmere Land Drainage Act, 1905 ... 439 (c) Linder Lake Ellesmere and Akaroa Railway Trust Account 82 (d) Charges and expenses of raising loans 518,158 (e) Under Finance Act, 1929, section 32 12,500

Making a total of £4,917,694 This left a credit balance in the account for general purposes at 31st March, 1930, of £348,126 The estimated expenditure under the account for the current financial year is £5,242,815, and arrangements are being umdo with the Minister of Finance to provide the necessary funds. The gross cash expenditure on works and services under the direct supervision or control of the Public Works De-

partment itself was £7,781,734. This includes expenditure from the Public Works Funds, Consolidated Fund, Main Highways Account, Electric Supply Account, Railways Improvement Account, and various other accounts. Tho Department also collected in cash a total of £628,951 as revenue from electric supply and irrigation undertakings. The total, therefore, of gross cash expenditure and revenue for the year was £8,410,685. This figuie is exclusive of interest and loan charges, credits-in-aid for works of various kinds, and sundry relatively petty items of revenue, and give some indication of the volume of work handled bv the Departments’ staff. Midland Railway.—-The formation of this railway is in hand from Gowan Station towards Murchison, and the earthworks ai;e proceeding satisfactorily over a distance of 9 miles. There are several very heavy cuttings ?n hand. One is being worked with a steam-shovel (double shifts), and night shifts are being worked on two other heavy jobs. Workers’ accommodation, consisting of seventeen single men s and twelve married men’s huts, have been erected. A large housing scheme is proceeding to provide additional 170 single men’s huts and thirty-nine married men’s quarters. The permanentline survey has been completed, and plans have been prepared for the whole of the section. Wettport-Inangahua Railway.—The formation is' progressing satisfactorily, but work has been retarded owing to heavy rainfall experienced during the year, and the transfer of men to repair the earthquake damage to the main highway. On the Hawk’s Crag Section numerous culverts and bridges are under construction. The approaches to No. 1 tunnel are nearly completed and a co-operative contract has been let for driving the heading in No. 2 tunnel. On the Orikaka Section (9 miles 34 chains in length) tho permanentline survey has been completed,, and the final plans are approved. .Bushfelling and clearing has been carried out over 6 miles 31 chains, and about 100 men are on formation work. South Island Main Trunk Railway. —The formation on Ivekerangu Section at the northern end has been continent! during the year, and parties are at work installing culverts, forming road-deviations, and erecting temporary bridges. Platelaying has been extended from Kekerangu for a distance of 4 miles 37 chains. Parties are also at work on the Shades and Clarence River sections. The work is progressing satisfactorily. RAILWAYS. ADDITIONS) TO OPEN LINES. The net expenditure out of the Public Works Fund for the year ended 31st March, amounted to £388,739 7s 6d. This sum represents the provision of new rolling-stock and motor vehicles, improvements and additions to station buildings, extension of sidings, grade easements, and other facilities. HARBOURS. During the year Westport, in common with other ports on the Coasthas experienced considerable shoaling on the bar, partly caused by the long spell of dry weather in the latter portion of the year and partly by tbe gradual seaward advance of the loreshore.

A vigorous policy of dredging has been maintained, and, in addition, the training walls are being extended into deeper water, the dredging of the berthages and swinging-area is being continued, and the dredge “Maui”, which was found after extensive trial to be suitable for the port, has been purchased. The position at ICaramea is not as satisfactory as I would wish, the earthquake damaged the trninging-wall and the wharves very considerably and causted extensive slips in the upper reaches of the river. These slips provided enormous quantities of debris which was cariied down the river during the heavy floods at the end of December, and, lodging in the lower four miles of the river, have raised the bed very considerably. This fact, combined with the sinking of the land immediately surrounding ICaramea, has created a situation in which it is somewhat difficult to forecast the effect of a heavy flood. Suitable precautionary measures have been taken in this connection, The repair and renewal in stone of the trainig-wall is now proceeding satisfactorily, but the re-erection of the wharf has been held over pending the result of the spring floods and the effelt on the navigable channel. ROAD-CONSTRUCTION. y The past financial year saw a very extensive roading programme undertaken, with the result that the expenditure on the various types of roadwork was particularly heavy, a total sum of £2,158,056 having been expended on the construction of roads and main highways, as against £1,770,073 for the proceeding year. Roads other than main highways accounted for £1,060,908 of this sum, and main highways £1,097,148, compared wi«i £833,577 and £936,496 for 1928-29. TOURISTS AND HEALTH RESORTS.' The net capital expenditure for the year was £20,547, as against £39,254 for the previous year. For this year a vote of £60,000 is proposed. The principal works undertaken were the rebuilding of Glade House, Te Anau. which was destroyed by fire; the purchase of a new launch for Waikaremoana; track and suspension bridge, Fox Glacier; and the re-construct-ion of the Pavilion Baths at Rotorua. The former will be completed this year and will he a great improvement on the old building both from the medical and recreational points, of view.