RAILWAY MAP INQUIRY COMMITTEE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 195, 16 August 1879, Page 6

RAILWAY MAP INQUIRY COMMITTEE.

MR MACANDREw's EVIDENCE. The Chairman ] You are the Minister for Public Works, Mr Macandrew, and were so last year ? — Yes. Do you recollect that there was a plan attached io your Public Works Statement Bhowing tho proposed railways in the North Island ?— Yes. Subsequent to that stateraeot br jin „ made, on (be motiou of Mr Richar d' m „ there waa a demand made for an m Jev showing the different proposed jj De g 0 f railway and the existing ra"' iw p__j no not tbiok it waa a mot,\ OD; -J j mi _. tage not, it wag a questi Jtl Hon. Mr Bichard< jon j It Wflfl a quesuon.-I tb.uk the J ue _ tion Wfl9 put to me about a after tbe Public Works Statemer jt had beeQ made Do you rer^,, ect with regard (0 lhe "dif. * ,lwa y wh ether there waa BDy e '.ence between the plan in y° ur *jblic Woiks Statement and tbe ns° * übßf q ueD(| y Iflii «n the table ? L _ap laid on table of House produced.] ' — The plan nttached to lhe Public Works Statement, I think, Bbows ihe Sine at a point from the Thames River -above Grahamstown somewhere, and the plan that was put on the table •übeequeutly shows the line to Grahamstown, (he intention having always been, as I understood iu fact, that the Thames and Grahamstown were synonymous, and it ought to have appeared in the first plan. Have you a distinct recollection that the map laid on (he table showed tbe extension to Grahamstown ? — 1 am not aware I ever saw the plan. The plan was prepared in the office in the usual way. Did yoa give any instructions to Mr Blackett to exhibit a railway to Grahamstown instead of stopping at Te Aroh?— l do not recollect ; but I have oo doubt I should have given instructions. Waa tbere any survey or estimate made of tbo proposed line of railway from Hamilton to Grahamstown at tbat time? — Not at tbat time; for a portion, not for tha whole. What money was voted for tbis line of railway last session ?— £30,000. I nnderstandd tbat in being summoned here to-day I was to give evidence as to whether or not a map had heen tampered witb, and I bave no hesitation in saying No. Ido not see how it was possible (hat itconld bave been tampered with. Mr McLean.] Yoa say you thought Te Aroha and the Thames were synonymous ; do you recollect now this map being brought to you in accordance with this order of this House by "your officers ? — I have no recollection of tbe map being brought to me. If Mr Blackett eays he brought the map to you in accordance wiih tbe order of tbe House, and tbat you afterwards ordered bim to pat on this long red line down to Grahamstown, will yoa contradict him? You say that you understood that from Hamilton to Te Aroha and from Hamilton to the Thameß were the same ? — I say, as a stranger to the district,! always underunderstood that "the Thames' 1 meant Grahamstown — tbat the two words were synonymous. Have yoa any recollection of Mr Blackett sending tbis plan or bringing it to your room in accordance with tbe order of tbe House ? — I have no recollection of nny order of the House. Have you any rocollection of your specially ordering Mr Blackett lo have this line pnt upon tbe map from Te Aroha to Grahamstown ? — I bave no recollection of ordering Mr Blackett to do anything of the sort, but if be eays eo I bave no doubt I did. Look at the difference in these two? —I eee it. You see there iB a difference in the tint of that line to Te Aroha, and the Bpace where you ordered it to be put on down to the Thames; it is just double the distance ? — I know it is. I do not Bee much difference in tbe tint. If tbe draughtsman says he put it on afterwards, and the Chief Engineer says it was put on by your order, will yoa contradict them?— My own opinion was that the railway was to go to Grahamstown, and I believe tbat was the intention of the previous Government some years before. I want to get oat bow this piece was

put on (he plan. You are aware that jnirty-two miles were put on from tbis public Worka Statement ?— I do not know ',ho length. You can seo tbat frcm Hamilton to *« Aroha aud from Te Aroha to the *'_amPB is just about tbe eame dia- ' anc*? — I suppose it is. Would it not strike you as rather strange that you should put on double the distance ?— I do not know how far I am required to answer these questions Mr Chairman. Question repeated. — If the Committee is to go into the political position of the matter, and the policy ofthe Government, then I submit that is not the Order of Reference, and I ought to have been a member of the Committee. I believe that when Mr Richardson put the question, the map either had been or waa being prepared upon a larger scale than the one attached to the Public Worka Statement. The Chairman.] Did you feel tbat in laying this map on the table you were showing a different length of railway from that shown in your Public Works map ?— No doubt to show aline to Grahamstown, when it was not shown in the previous one, implied that the railway was longer — that is to say, if it were taken to Hamilton. Ido not think it implies that the railway should be more than a given distance. It all depends upon the House. The whole thing was a proposal, and the map was intended to show what was proposed to be made. Ot course it was all subject to the vote of the House ? — Tes. Did any question arise last session as to whether the railway should terminate at Te Aroha or Grahamstown ?— Not that I am aware of. Mr McLean.] When a promise is made to the House that an exact copy of a map shall be placed on the table in some distinctive colours, in order that members may eee at a glance where railways are going, do you th nk it is a proper thing to put a map on the table with different railways on it to those exhibited on the map of which a copy ia asked for ?— I should think it would depend on the circumstances. I think the order has been literally complied with. [Mr Richardson's question (No. 4, 3rd September, 1878, read.] That is literally complied with. Mr Rolleston.] This was not proposed in the Public Works Statement ? — Yes, it was. [Quotation from Public Works Statement read by Mr Richardson.] No doubt that iB a special survev, but it does not follow that more tha'n thirty miles of railway need be made now. It is for the House to say whether the thirty miles shall be exceeded or not. [Report of Engineer of North Island produced.] That is correct. There appears to be only one survey to that extent. Mr McLean.] Suppose, now, I as a member stuck to your Public Works Statement, acd suppose you were in my place, would you, as a member of the House, be content to look at your Public Works Statement map, and be satisfied with that, without going to any other map that was ordered as a copy of it to be put on the table of the House in distinctive lines, to see whether it would be altered ? — lt would be very difficult to say what I might think if I were in your place. Suppose you were a member of the House and not in the Government, and you saw a piece added to another map which was supposed to be a copy of the map attached to the Public Works Statement ? — I am on my oath to give statements of fact, not suppositions. Then, if Mr Blackett swears that he brought this map to you in accordance with this question of the House, and you ordered him to add this thirty miles to Grahamstown ? — lf he swears it, I will believe it, but I have no recollection of it.