THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 100, 10 August 1880, Page 2

THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

« , — The Hon Mr Oliver delivered his Public Works Statement on Friday evening last. Subjoined is a resume of the statement. We confine onr extract* to those lines of rail way likely to prove of interest to our readers :— Foxton-New Plymouth Railway. — The railway from New Plymouth was opened as far south as Stratford on the 19th December, and a further section to Ngaire will, it is expected, be open in ft few weeks. Some other portions of this line between Stratford and Curlyle are under contract, some are being done by day labor ; and between Oarlyle and Wanganui the Waitotara contract is approaching completion. The Waverlev section is in hand, and the Carlyle wharf contract has been let, while some portions of tho works in the neighborhood of Carlyle are now being prepared for absorbing unemployed labor. Commodious workshops have been built at Wanganui, and a contract has been made for a new railway station and wharf at Foxton. Wellington- Woodville Railway.— On the Wellington- Wood ville Railway, the works of the Carterton section, over twenty miles, have been vigorously prosecuted by the department, the average number of men employed being 27a. It is expected that \y September next the whole distance between Wellington and Masterton will be open for traffic. Napier- Woodville Railway.— Tho NipierWoodville Railway is nearly completed to Makatoko, about seventy miles from Napier, and the last contract of five and threequarter milfß will shortly bo ready for public traffic. Works ere being pushed on towards Tahoraite, about twelve miles farther, und surveys of the country to the south havo been completed for about fifteen miles more. With the view of finding work for the unemployed in this district, s.vme men h&ve been eniraired in earthwork and bush clear tv» on the Opuki secii-m beyond the Carterton contract ; and on the Crof ton section of tho Wellington-Foxton Railway sometimes as many as 350 of the unemployed have been set. at wot.c. The number has n >w fallen below 100. The liovornnrmt. have during the year been called on to alleviate di-tress through persons beiag -unemployed, and at present 1674 persons are employed flt low wages in tho Colony. The Colony has obtained a fair equivalent for the outlay on behalf of the unemployed, and it is predicted that ;l better times ate coming," while the disorganisation of tho labour market is beginning to develop new industries in the large centres of population. The sums voted by Parliament for addi t.ion'tl railway works in the last session, exclusive, of preliminary surveys for lines not 5 et authorised, amounted to £2,308,700 ; on the 31st March £856 .650 of this sura had been expended, and liabilities incurred amounting to £91D,506, making a total of £1,767,05(>, and leaving an unexpended balance on last year's votes of £541,644. The Government have been careful to let very few new contracts during the yeur, and only one new section in the South Island" has been commenced since the end of last sessioj. Tenders were called for sevoral contracts, but were not accepted. The expenditure of votes for roads has been largely entrusted to the various local governing bodies. The main roads main taiued by Government are — Great South Road, Auckland, the Tauranga-Taupo, and Taupo-Napier roads. Almost every month brings new discoveries of coal in some part of the colony, and it has become apparent that New Zealand is exceptionally rich in this mineral. Our most important lines of steamers are now almost wholly supplied from the coaj mines of the colony; and the more extended use of native coals will effect a saving of £3500 on our railways iv tho iMiddle Island for the current year, in addition to an almost equal amount heretofore saved ou those in the North Island. Considerable reductions have been effected in ihe co.'t of working the railways. The train-service has already been reduced by 370,000 miles a year, and the staff has been reduced by 266 men, and it is estimated that these and other economies which have up to this time been effected will save on the year upwards of £44,000. The Minister then proceeds to say : — " As these alterations to which I have referred can hardly be said to hare commenced until after the prorogation of Parliament, they had but a small portion of the last financial period wheieiu to operate ; and lam sorry to say that, for the nine months ending the 3lst Maroh, the railways only gave u« a return equal to slightly under 2£ per cent per annum, while the rate of interest whioh we have to pay is over 5 per cent. The loaf), therefore, on the cost of the lines, which °t'uidf* atrs£B,6 >9,482, w*» at the rate of £2.?7.73'> per annum, and had to be furnished from tnxation. In the prosperous years through which we have just passed we did not leriously regard the railway deficit,

but thought only offhe jfiifynjlfr*dvilWageg of railways in settling -fend developing the reaourcea of the country. Wo pointed to these advantage as ju&tifying the expendit^M^and sp'tJklftf oar railways as remtrae*a^v%f tondejfttkjngs, whether they contribated intertA on their cost or not." A considerable portion of the statement following what w« have quoted is taken up with a diseusßion of the reasons why. our railways- do not pay. Tse first reason given by Mr Oliver is, the smallness of our population. He says : — " In Great Britain there is one mile of railway to about 2000 inhabitants, while in Yew Zeaand there ia one mile to 406. For every mile of railway in Victoria there are 108 p«* cent, more «u«totners than -we have. In the United State? of America they have 43 per cent., afccl Canada 58 per cent. j in New South Wales 148 per cent, in Great Britain 883 per cent., and in France 614 per cent, more people per mile of railway : than in New Zealand. If this contrast ; with other countries were confined to the *outbf Island, whioh contains by far the largest portion of our railways, it would show the disproportion still more foroibly, for, instead of having 406 people per mile of railway, which, as I have said, is the average for the colony, the South Island has only 330 people per mile. 11 In New Zealand our average receipts per mile of railway last year were £648, while in England they amount to £."}485 ; yt. even with these comparative y large receipts, the railway dividends declared in England only average 4£ per cent, per an num. " Next in importance, in my opinion, among the reasons for want of commercial success in railway working is the needlessly low tariff adopted in many districts. Be tween two places to which , my attention has 1 been called, where, before the railway was made, the freight charged was £3 per ton, our railway rate is 16s lod. ; in another instance the former rate was £6, and is now 17» 21. • in in another, it has been reduced from £5 to 22s 2d. No doubt at che commencement of a railway system in a now country it is easy to make mistakes, and by no means easy to make railways pay with only 406 people to every mile. " The result, however, has proved that the reduction was too great ; for, although our chief end and aim in railway construe* tion is.Jby facilitating travelling and cheapening the transit of goods, to open the country and develop its resources, we now discover that we have gone too far, and find ourselves face to face with a state of things as unpleasant as it was unexpected. "The large use made of the railways, ' however, proves that if our people wete as numerous as the resources of the country warrant us in expecting they will become, our railways would pay far more than mere interest on cost, even with our present tariff. " The tonnage carried on our railways compares very favorably with the neighboring colonies : Victoria carrying 1062 tons, New South Wales 2299 tons, and New Zealand 2247 tins, per 1000 of population. " The number of passengers on New Zealand railways last year was 2,932,279, being 578 per cent, of our population. The number in Victoria was 3.829,256, being 437 per cent, of the population. " Now our freight tr iffic is not capable of indefinite increase, however low the rate maj' be. Nor cat. we raise our tariff beyond a fair payment for the service rendered, however much we might be inclined to do so. Our principal railways skirt the seacoast, and we are restricted in our tariffs by the competition of water carriage. Ou the inland railways, too, the tariffs are at present more s<rictly limited than they would usually be because of the cheapness of horse food, and the competition of ordinary road vehicles. '• ICven if this were not so, I should not in any case advocate excessively high rates : it will take time to develop a true system of tariffs adapted to our circumstances. Our efforts must necessarily be tentative, must •be carefully made, and constantly warclied ; but railway rates that are only designed to bring in 5 per cent, on cost surely otnnot ba considered high if competing modes of convevunco permit their adoption. " Referring to the Railway Commission report, fhestatemoutsays that—" Although the conclusions at which the Commissioners have ariv«d may not be universally approved, yet we feel sure thnt the colony will recognise the impartial spirit in whicli their inquiries have been oi>nducted, and we believe that these gentlemen have well earned the thauks of the community. In suyiiii; this the Government would not be understood as a jop.'ing implicitly the whole if ihoir recommendations. It is, hardly within the bound-, of possibility thnt \ report dealiug with so many works and proposals in all parts of tho colony should be accepted in every particular. For the lireseiit,bowever,e\enthe restricted programme recommended by the Commissionersis far beyond ">ur means." The estimated cost of completing lines authorised by Parliament, beyond present liabilities, is £fi,66*i,200. Of the amount voted last year £2,356,729 was for liabilities found in existence. The position of the account may perhaps be stated more clearly thus : the ways" and means on 31st July amounted to £2,677,910 17s Id, consisting of:— £ s. d. Cash in hand .. 593,910 17 1 Treasury & deficiency bills .. .. 1,217,000 0 0 Investments .. •• 57,000 0 0 Guaranteed debentures 800,000 0 0

£2,677,910 17 1 The linbilities on the aame dare amounted to £2,202,474 There were, however, imprests outstanding on 31st July, £346,486, . making M1, 855,5)88, the net amount of liabilities to bo provided for, and leaving a balance of £321,923. as already stated, for new work:) and servioes. The Estimates to be submitted make a further demand on this balance 0f.£674,238, leaving £147,685 only for future appropriations from the Public Works Fund. Bearing in mind the importance of spreading the expenditure of tho balance of loan over the next two years, Governmentsb ould have preferred to ask for the apprtp-iution of & much smaller sum, but have not found it possible to do so. The votes for the various works which they now propose are designed to provide for the expenditure up to 30th June, 1851. After that date, and until we aro again in a position to become borrowers, the only sources whence we ein druw supplies for these purposes w 11 bo a portion of the proceeds of Innd sales, and the saving from the epliaiates f»r tho purchase of native /and, a saving which Government have reason to believe may bo considerable, but which at presont it is impossible to estimate. The following are the works m the North Island proposed to be done :— Complete present contract at Knwakawa, and begin remaining section. Finish Kamo line, with branch to Limeburnors Creek. # Complete for traffic line from Kaipara to Te Awamutu, nlso from Napier to Makatoko, on the Woodville line. The Wellington nnd Opaki line will ba completed as far as Maaterton, nnd provision made for the unemployed on the extension to Opaki. The station works at Wellington will also be constructed. The Fox ton station and wharf, on the

■

Wellington and Foxton line, will be ' completed. Sundry necessary works on the opened lines between Foxton and Kai-Iwi wilt be executed ; and the extension to Waverlej, whioh is in hand, will be finished. The works in the neighbourhood of Carlrle will v' be proceeded with, giving work to the un ; enagloyed. The contracts between Stratford and Haweia will be pushed on, and the formation to Normanby will probably be completed within thn present year. The question of the propriety of oonitruoting the Waikato-Thamea Railway ha* been raised by the Bailway CommiMioners, who have reoommended that it should t present be completed only to the junction with the projected Cambridge line, snd that the Cambridge seotfon of eleven miles should be substituted. The Government intend to have the subjeot very carefully investigated with a view to determine whioh proposal will be most beneficial to the country, and will act accordingly. The' vote will therefore be proposed in the alternative.