[?]L CONSTRUCTION WORK SHOULD CEASE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 16, 11 September 1931, Page 3

[?]L CONSTRUCTION WORK SHOULD CEASE

H»Post" Special Commissioner.)

Inew railways gOARD'S DRASTIC REPORT ON LINES IN BOTH ISLANDS AJO PROSPECTS OF PAYING THEIR WAY jCpENDITURE NOT JUSTIFIED

m WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Hfhe report of tlie Railways Board « the lines under construction ■oughout the Dominion, required to ■ made under the Government Rail(ys Amendment Act passed during *)' short session in April last, was ■esented in the House of Repres■tatives this afternoon. ■in every case the Board recomiHnds the suspension of construction H tlie ground that the expediture is Ht justified by the estimated revenue. ■ The lines affected by the adverse Mcommendations are the Wharanui■arnaesus (South Island Main Trunk) ■ne the Napier-Gisborne line, the ■awatiri-Inangahua line, the West-■rt-Inangahua line, the WaiotiraMargav'lie line and the Okaihau-Ran-■jahua line. The total saving whieh mlll bc effeeted if the Board's re■jjnmendations are adopted will he *st under £6,000,000. ■ The report is to be referred to the ■ter-party economy committee. ■ The Board stated that it had reach- « the conclusion that the completion ■ the railway between Wharanui and ■rnassus (the South Island Main ■unk line) was not justified and Bat the work should be stopped. In Hading up to this conclusion, the ■oard gave details of expenditure on Hc line up to March 31 last. This Hotalled £415,239. The estimated Bcpenditure frorn March 31, 1931 to ■mplete the line was £2,165,761, to Bhich had to be added the cost of Blditional terminal facilities, bridge Brengthening and signalling and com■unicr.tions systems, amounting to ■176,000, making a total of £2,341,■61.

R South Main Trunk ■ The question which the Board was Hjquimi to report on was whether K expenditure of over £2,000,000 Ks justified. The opinion was exHressed by the Board that the proBosed route via Picton wonld 'not ■lpersede the present WellingtonHyttelton route. The country along He route of the new line was, exeept Hr one or two comparatively small Heas, unsuitable for very close setHement. being alnrost wholly pastora! Knd, so that the increased production Hat would come frorn that arer. Bould not be great. The area was Hot well roaded and even if the railKay wero eonsiructed, lieavy expend;Hre would be needed for roading, He costs of which would not be justiHed. B "The position may now he sumBarised thus," stated the report. "On Bemost optimistic view possible, as a Rain trunk line, the. net result would He an ine rear.e of £99,753 in the anHual le-'s on the railways. The i'acts Hidicate, however, that even this Hosition, unsatisfaetory in itself, does? ■ot rcp-esent the fuil loss likely to Be expcrienced." B Repoit'ng on the Napier-Gisborne Bilway, the Board expressed the opinion that its construction was not Bustified and that the work, where Bow proeeeding, should he stopped. ■he total capital cost of the completBd line frem Napier to Gisborne was Bstimat 'd to be £4,927,505. Basing it; Bstimate of the possibilities of relenue "n other North Island results. Bhe Board was of the opinion that the Hnnual loss, if the proposed line was Bompleted. would be £195,037.

K Napier-Gisborne Line B The Board was convineed that the Bverage results of the North Island Hines wero not possible of even apRroximate attainment by the NapierBlisbonit' line. Tlie claim that thc 'aihvay would secure the bulk of thc lassengor traffic passing betweer jisborne and the South was highly speculaiive and as far as goods tral'ic was concorned, there was no prospect of obtaining revenue sufficient ;o show n reasonable financial returr in the ro t of the line. ■ The Board considered that road. lanspfirt was adequate for the disrict which would be served by thc ia'wati' i-ln; ngahua line and that thc possibilities of land devolopment werc imited. The railway would also suf 'er from tlie competition of sci ransport. Prart:rally» the same remarks ap ilied to tlie Wotport-Inangahua line ■f thcse lines retumed any net re renue at n'l on operating, the amounvould i'all far short of the interes' 'bargc's and the net result would bc i further burden ort the taxpayers o; the Dominion, without any commen surate advantage to the Dominion a; a whole. In eonnection with the Waiotira Dargaville line, the Board stated timi the whole position showed that thc volunie of goods traffic that would be secured l>y the railway wouhl he Hmited and as in the case of passeng er traffic, it would not be commensur ate with the high cost of constructing the line and operating it. Preseni Servsces Adequate A similar finding was made in respect to the Okaihau-Rangiahua line north of Whangarei. The district Was well provided with passengcr setvice car.; and the road routes were ®ore direct than the proposed railway route. The goods traffic possibilities of tho district were also limited. The Board was impressed wito the development that had taken place in the North Auckland district in recent years and with the possibilities future development, but it dicl n°t follow that that development would he proportionately reflected in ■aihvay revenue. In concluding its report, the Board >tated that a point that had been freNently stressed before the Board Was that, as a considerable proportion of the total -expenditure involvin constructing the various line? had been incurred, the spending of Ihe balance in order to complete the hnes would be justified, but it was telt that unless the lines showed a aefinite prospect of returning at least i reasonable amount of net revenue,

further expenditure would not be justified and would simply create a recurring liability. Effect on Unemployment. The Board realised the efxect of the stoppages so far as unemployment was concerned, but pointed out that the question before it was one of railways policy and should not be confused with the unemployment problem. The view was expressed that most of the existing lines would continue to be an essential part of the transport system of the Dominion for many years to come, notwithstanding that their financial results had been adversely affected by the competition of other means of transport. Discussing competition by road, the Board said tliat this development had made the construction of further railways less necessary for the purpose of meeting- the transport needs of the various districfs affected.^ The cost of completing the lines dealt with in the report was given as f ollows : — -Wharanui-Parnassus, £2,242,261, Napier-Gisborne, £1,526,664, Kawatiri-Inangahua £1,597,000; W estport-Inangahua £450,000; Wai-otira-Dargaville £46,000; OkaihauRangiahua £60,000; total £5,921,924. At the request of the House the Minister of Railways (the Hon. W. A. Veltch), gave an outline of the Board's recommendations and there was considerable amusement as the Minister gave the findjngs in respect of the various railway worlcs. When the Minister was referring to the Westport-Inanghua line, the Leader of the Labour Party (Mr H. E. Holland) inter j ected : "The Board's gone mad." '