The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1912. THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 131, 21 October 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1912. THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

The Public Works Statement, delivered in the House of Representatives on Friday night by the Hon. W. Fraser, Minister for Public Works, was awaited by the country with considerable interest. It is a gratifying document, commendably brief, yet evidencing an intention on the part of the Government to carry out its much-vaunted policy of economy. The Minister, owing to the stringency of the money market, has had to frame his appropriations with especial care, and there will, of course, be the usual crop of disappointments from districts which, having asked for an ell have to be content 'with an inch. But this, under the circumstances, cannot well be avoided, 'and the Government must be congratulated on not having allowed itself to be cajoled into any unnecessary extravagance for diplomatic or party reasons. We are glad' to find the Cabinet realising the necessity for giving special consideration to the roading of the backblocks, and the appropriations for this work are on quite a generous scale compared with those for the railways. In fact, Mr. Fraser intimated very clearly that it was the intention of the Cabinet to concentrate its energies upon giving settlers proper access to t'heir holdings. This is as it' should be, for it is useless to open up- land for settlement unless proper facilities are given to those who take it up to place their produce upon the markets of the world. The provision for roads and bridges this year is a trifle over £500,000,' which is practically the same amount as was voted last year, but of this £200,000 has been specially ear-marked for backblock roads, and there is every prospect, therefore, that the hardy pioneers of the wilderness will have at least some of their more urgent necessities speedily attended to. But though special attention has been devoted to the important question of roads, there is no intention of neglecting our railways, for an appropriatimi of £847,500 has been made for railway construction, which is £B3,7S!> in excess of last year's vote. The Minister, in this connection, has outlined a scheme for the construction of light railways at the standard gauge, to serve outlying districts where settlement is advancing, and where the maintenance of roads is at present proving a very heavy tax upon the settlers. It is estimated that railways of this character can he built at a much cheaper rate than the heavier lines, and yet prove quite as useful for the purposes for which they are required. The saving in road maintenance which would follow the building of light railways would go far towards paying the interest on the cost of their construction, and we hope that the House generally will co-operate with the Cabinet in giving practical effect to the Minister's suggestions, which can in no sense be regarded as a party matter. Locally, of course, Interest centres around the proposals concerning the Opunake railway. 'As was anticipated, the Government has not been able to adopt the report of j ItiMMiiiiititiriW

the condition of the money market they cannot be blamed for materially modifying the report, although it must be admitted that they have dealt somewhat drastically with the Commissioners' suggestions, and have not been unduly generous. There ig no fixed appropriation in the Statement, but the Minister states tliat it is proposed to build a railway twenty-three miles in length from Opunake to tho main line., The | exact route is not stated, but presumably the line will follow either the reserved route or ,the route suggested by the recent Commission, junctioning with tlie main line near Te Eoti, thus serving a wide and closely-settled dairying district. It? is satisfactory also to find that the requirements of the Stratford-Te Koura railway have not been neglected, although the vote has been slightly reduced from that of last ye'ar, the appro-, priatiorv being £90,000, as against £IOO,000 in 1911, although only £81,806 of this amount was expended. In the meantime we must, -with other parts of the Dominion, be. content with this lialf loaf, which is considerably better than having to remain without bread at all. On the whole, the Statement is a very satisfactory document, and the Government , must be congratulated on having tabled such an eminently practical outline of fts Public Works policy.