THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT. (BY TELEGRAPH. — PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.)

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 284, 25 July 1888, Page 3

THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT. (BY TELEGRAPH. — PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER. )

Wellington, July 21. ■••T is now almost certain that the Public Works Statement will be brought down on Tuesday evening. Less interest than usual' however, centres in it>, from the fact that the loan is tied up by Act, and there ar c no large sums of borrowed money to fight over. I have taken some trouble to obtain authentic information relative to probable contents of the Statement, but very great reticence is shown, for the reason that it has not yet been adopted by the Cabinet,

THE RAILWAY VOTES. Probably the most important) part of the Statement will be that relative to railway works. 1 believe the only new contracts to be let during the current year will be on the Woodville-Palmer-ston and Otago Central lines The amounts arc not yet definitely fixed, but it may be assumed about £30,000 will be i voted for the Woodville - Palmerston, and £24,500 for the Otago Central. These will be principally bridge works, and on the Manawatu line the contract to be let will include the Pohangeua Bridge to cost nearly £20,000. The other votes will be very s>mall sums to complete existing contracts. It is recognised that Otago Central must be completed to the nearest paying point, which is Taieri Lake, or, in eventof Pykes Bill being passed, to Middlemarch.

PUBLIC WORKS FUND. The Statement will probably show that the liabilities of this fund stood at £850,404 in March, 1887, and that by the close of last financial year in March they had been reduced to £471,695. This sum is chargeable against the present loan.

VOTES FOR THE YEAR. It may be expected that the vote for Public Works expenditure for the year to be asked for by the Minister will be £820,000. Of this sum only about £255,000 is intended for expenditure on railways, roads, bridges, building telegraphs, etc. About £80,000 is for expenses of raising the two million loan and the balance is made up of public works liabilities of the £471,695 already referred to. It will thus be seen that the Minister is adhering to his policy ot tapering off public works expenditure from loan, as the vote asked is the smallest since the Public Works Department was established.

NORTH ISLAND TRUNK RAILWAY. Reference will be made to this subject' and the House will probably be informed that satisfactory progress is being rnado with the survey of the proposed new route at near Stratford or Mimi. The surveyors will have completed work in the latter part of October or early in November, and plans and imports of their operations will be placed before the House next session. The cost of these surveys will be £8,500, of which £5,000 is taken from the vole for the survey ot new line.s, and £1,500 from unauthorised expenditure. It is not proposed to let any of the new contracts on this railway during the current year or until the land on the route is pcquired from the natives. The work will therefore be hung up for the present, and the balance of loan invested at interest. The position of the North Island Trunk Railway Loan Fund will be stated. After deducting £100,000 for purchase of land, about £40,000 for expenses of raising loan, and also deducting cost of work done and existing liabilities, there will only be a balance of about £400,000 in hand for investment for the completion of the line.

RAILWAY COxMMISSIONERS. Allusion will be made to this subject. The House will be informed that no suitable application has yet been leceived by the Agent-General, who is still prosecuting inquiries, and unless these are successful Government will immediately after the session proceed to the appointment of a Commissioner in the colony. No indication will be given as to names of probable Commissioners.

ABOLITION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT. Large savings will be shown in the Public Works Estimates in giving effect to the intention of the Minister of Works to aboli»h the Works Depai'tment, which change will come into effect when the House rises. Considerable reduction will al&o be made in some of the higher salaries, and the&e Avill include £200 from the Engineer-in-Chief. The changes re fen cd to involve the taking over of Railways Construction Branch by tli6 Working Railways Department, Roads and Bridges Construction being tacked on to the Department of Lands, the Minister in charge of which will be styled Minister for Lands and Works. The new poitfolio of Minister for* Railways will take the place of that of Minister for Public Works. The re-organisation will cause a largo number of dismissals from present Public Works branch of the service. Railways will only need at most two more engineers for the added duties.and the Lands Department one engineer. It would be premature to enter move fully into details of Statement, at present, but the above givesabrief outline of some of the main proposals. It will be found that it was proposed to invest half the two million loan.

TEMPERANCE AGITATION. A deputation, consisting of Messrs Joyce, Withy, Buxton, and Goldie, M.H.R.'s, together with Mr T. W. Glover, lecturer to the New Zealand Temperance Alliance, interviewed the Premier yesterday afternoon. Mr Glover, who acted as spokesman, explained that a mass meeting of the combined temperance societies had been held in the local Salvation Army barracks on the previous evening, when a resolution was carried appointingthedeputatwntowait upon the Premier at his earliest convenience to urge upon him the necessity of fixing a day for discussion of Mr Fulton's resolution on local option with regard to the liquor traffic. Sir Harry Atkinson replied that he should be pleased to assist the deputation in their endeavour to get Mr Fulton's resolution discussed, and that he would consult his Cabinet as to whether a day could be set apart, and he would confer with the friends of the temperance cause who had seats in the House.

PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION. The amount of compensation for loss of office paid by theGovernnientcluring the last financial year was £16,980. and this does not include £1,336 paid in gratuities to widows ot deceased officers, and£24Bascompensation for injuries received in the service. The largest departmental totals are as follows t — Public Works, £1,784; Stock Branch, £1,502; Surveys, £6,109; Immigration,. £903 ; Prisons, £671 ; Marine, £597 ; Lands, and Deeds, £728; Native Lands Courts* £846 ; Crown Landfe, £490 ; Resident Magistrates' Courts, £608; Post and Telegraphs, £331 Stamps, £490. jj

A Tichborne 'Yarn.' A mysterious circumstance connected with "he Tich borne case is reported in the American papers. Some eighteen months ago an Englishman died suddenly at St. Louis, and among his papers was found a packet with the following superscription : — ' Be sure to burn this or bury it with me. May God paralyse the hand that opens it.' This strange writing naturally led to inquiries as to the career of the dead man, and it was found that he was generally supposed to have been connected in some way with the Tichborne caso, and that formerly for certain he had been a footman in the household of the Earl of Gosford, who gave important evidenco at the trial. The packet was buried with the deceased man as directed, but efforts are now being made by the ' Claimant " to have it resurrected, in view of the possible reopening of the Tichborne case after his ticket-of-lcave has expired.