PUBLIC WORKS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2624, 25 August 1923, Page 2

PUBLIC WORKS.

TIIE MINISTER’S STATEMENT.

PROGRESS DURING PAST YEAR.

The Public Works Statement was delivered in the Douse of Representatives last night by the Minister of Public Works (lion. J. G. Coates). In the course of the statement the Minister said : —“The operations of the Public Works Department during the past year have resulted in very material progress in the works of railway construction, hydro-electric development, irrigation, road construction and improvement, as well as in other works individually smaller but none the less of importance. The costs of construction materials an< plant have receded to some extent. io this, and the application of mechanical apparatus wherever possible, is due the tact that, compared with last year, a. much greater extent of work has been obtained tor an equivalent expenditure of money. Assuming ail elhcient works organisation, progress in the siiape of completed works is mainly a matter of money available for expenditure. Given unlimited funds more might have ‘been done. Although the works to which our loan moneys are devoted are developmental and open the way to increased productivity, and consequently .increase the country's capacity to bear the burden of interest and sinking fund charges on capital expenditure, we must on no account lose sight of the fact that loan indebtedness must be kept well within the country’s capacity to honour its'obligations. To this end the earning capacity of works created out of loan money must be carefully considered and weighed, and progress of expenditure on development works regulated to our ways and means. It is necessary for us to demonstrate to our own satisfaction, as well as to those from whom we borrow, that the progressive expenditure on our development is carefully considered and fully justified by the increased productivity induced by such works. It would be unwise, and indeed impossible, for this country to raise and spend the money necessary to build, in the minimum of time, all the works necessary for the full development of areas which at present, owing to lack of means of transport, are in a partially de-

veloped state. As in all young countries whose financial resources are limited, the settler must bo the pioneer, not the railway O'' the high-class road. These can follow the return from partial development of land only as the country’s financial position and by the settler make the expenditure justifiable. This must be regarded as the position, at any rate, for the present. I have no doubt that within reasonable time the more intensive development of natural resources and secondary industries within the areas already served by adequate means of transport will result in the creation of a balance of national asset over liabilities sufficient to enable us to confidently undertake the construction of first-class roads, or even railways, to follow developmental settlement much more closely than at present. For the time being, however, it is our policy to push railway, construction projects to their natural conclusion only after most careful consideration by both the department responsible for construction and the department which, o*l completion of the v. oik, will bo responsible for making the line pay its way as a part of the New Zealand railway system. “During the present year it is anticipated that expenditure by the Public Works Department will cease on the Whangarei branch connection to the North Auckland Main Trunk, and also on the Huarau-Wai-otira section of the North Auckland Main Trunk. Passenger anil goods traffic is actually being run over these lines at the present time, but there still remains the necessity of a considerable expenditure on ballasting, station yard, and buildings work. Portion of the country through which this line runs is of an extraordinarily unstable nature, anil will require close attention during the next few months. “Coining to the East Coast Main Trunk line, from which a construction point of view runs east from Tauranga to Taneatua, a distance of 63 miles, and west from Tauranga. to Waihi, a distance of 41 miles, it is estimated that the Tauranga-Taneatua section can be completed in two years. On Pie Tauranga westwards section to Waihi

a certain amount of work hns already been done by the department, mainly at the Waihi end. Tenders are being invited for the construction of the intervening section of 18 miles 18 chains. The time allowed for completion of this section is three years from the end of this financial year, within which time the department will have completed the work which it has in hand. “Having thus defined the present objectives of railway works now in actual course of construction and enabled the House to appreciate the probable demands upon the Public Works Fund for the present and the near future for the completion of those works to the objectives, I now invite consideration of three special undertakings upon which I advise that the expenditure of moneys available should next be conrentrated. The first is Westport-Inangnhua. At present the whole of the Westport coalfolds finds outlet from Westport harbour. A large proportion of this coal is shipped to the east coast of the South Island. If these fields were given railway connection to the East and West , Coast railway systems, now connected by the opening of the Otira tunnel, the coal would be transported over the railway and earn freight, not only over this particular section but over from 200 to 250 miles of open railway. The provision of railway communication would also lead to the opening up of other coalfields, to say nothing of the interchange ; of stock and farming products from Canter-' lniry. The other two works are of practically equal importance, each being designed to provide improved connection between the port of Wellington and the districts in the Dominion lying to the north-east and northwest of that port. They are known as Tawa Flat, deviation of the WellingtonPnlmerston North portion of the North Island Main Trunk line, and the Rinuitaka deviation of the Wellington-Wairarapa line. The increasing difficulty of running suburban and general traffic on grades such as exist on the Manawatu lihe has become so intense that it is impossible to extend services unless the line is. double-tracked at least as far as Tawa Fiat. It would be absurd to double-track the existing alignment if a better alignment can be found. Trial surveys have been made which show that a double-track line can be built on grades and alignment between three and four times as favourable as the present route. The Rimutaka deviation is recognised as a necessary work which should be put in hand and carried to completion at the earliest possible time. “The total net expenditure under all votes and accounts appearing on the public works estimates for the financial year ended 31st March, 1923, was £4.939.520. Of'this sum £3.912.447 was expended out„ of the Public Works Fund, and the balance SI .'-2 7.073, out of accounts which have their own ways and means and are quite separate from the Public Works Fund. “There was a credit balance of ways and means at 31st March, 1923, of £441,554; legislative authority exists for raising a further additional £4,000,920; it is proposed to transfer from accumulated surpluses to capital purposes to the extent of £1,000,000; also to ask for further legislative authority to borrow when required a further £4,000,000; £9,000,920. thus making , available for public works purposes a total of £9.442.474. The estimated expenditure on public works for the current financial year (exclusive of those accounts which have th.-ir own ways and means) is £4,806,212, which will leave an estimated credit balance in the fund at 31st March, 1924. of £4,636,462. . Quite separate from the beforo-mentioned fund there are certain public undertakings of considerable importance which have their own ways and means. The most important of these are : (a) Slectric Supply Account.—The availahle balance under this head at 31st March, 1923, was £1,952,919; and in addition there is an unexhausted authority for raising an additional £6,506,990. —£8,459,909. (h) Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers Improvement Account. —Balance at 31st March, 1923, was £15,143. while legislative authority exists for raising further loans amounting to £124,000. —£139,143. (c) Railways Improvement Authorisation Act. 1914. Account. —Balance at 31st March, 1923, £850,530; unexhausted authority for raising additional funds, £1.458,310. — £2.308.840. (d) Main Highways Account. —Revenue fund, £121,413; total, £11,029,305. From these figures it will be observed that at the end of last financial year the unexpected balance of the Puglic Works Fund, plus existing and proposed authorities for raising further moneys, amounted to £9,442,474; while the balance at the same date in respect to some of the more important public works which form no portion of the Public Works Fund proper, plus legislative authority to raise additional loans, amounted to £11,029,305, or a total of £20,471,779. , It is gratifying to me to know that tne administration of the Public Works Department still retains the confidence of legislature, as evidenced by the establisnment of these credits and the placing ot them at my disposal for the development of the Dominion under a progressive policy of railway, road, hydro-electric, and lrnga tion construction