"WHAT HAPPENED TO JONES"

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 27 July 1929, Page 14

"WHAT HAPPENED TO JONES"

SOUTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK QUESTION IN THE HOUSE (By Telegraph.) (From “The Mail’s" Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, 26th July. “What happened to Jones?” This was the question asUyd. by the Minister of Justice'-(the lion. T. M. Wilford) in the House of Representatives last night when making a reference to the South Island Main Trunk railway, or, as the Minister termed it, the In-vercargill-Auckland railway. Mr Jones, said Mr Wilford, was a perfectly respectable highly-qualified engineer in the railway service who had come into prominence recently because of certain figures he had been quoting. “Let’s analyse Mr Jones and find out what happened to Jones,” said Mr Wilford, "Now, Mr Jones was in the railway service while the Leader of the Opposition, was the uead. of the department. Mr Jones was in the de-, partmenl when the Government derided to find out what railways should bo prosecuted. But what did the Leader of 'the Opposition do? He did not go to Mr Jones for an opinion as to what lines should be prosecuted. He did imt think ho >vas worth while- He sent away and got.twoyhf the best railway engineers in' the world } Sir Sam Fay and Sir Vincent Raven, men with world-wide reputations. He brought them here at-great expense, and they reported that in their opinion the InS'ercargill- Auckland railway should be gone on with.” Mr J. A. Nash (Palmerston): “What did they say about the Palmerston deviation?”

The Minister: “I would suggest that the member should forget it, for he will never get it.” (Laughter.) Mr Wilford said that Mr Coates had told, the country, that at hast they had the opinions of somebody who 'knew v/liat they were talking about. Then something had happened, and for some reason another .Cpmmisqipn had been appointed. :%Again>4he'topinion of Mr Jones was hot sought, hut t>va officers in the department were appointed. What happened to Jones? He had not been thought of, and two officers, Mr Fay and Mr Casey, reported against the findings of the Fay-Raven Commission. Then Mr Jones left the department and began-to--write letters to the newspapers. It was not the Railway Department that discovered that there was aMr Jones, but the newspapers. (Laughter.) Making a personal explanation, the Leader of ,the_ Opposition said that Mr Wilford was wrong when he said that the first Commission was composed of two engineers.- Sir Sam Fay was not an engineer.. A second Commission w *? s J U P' Mr Jones had been asked to appoint two officers to undertake the inquiry, and he had appointed Mr Fay and Mr Casewj '