DISTRICT RAILWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 118, 12 October 1914, Page 7

DISTRICT RAILWAYS.

THE DEBATH IN THE HOUSE. 11l the debute on the District Railways last week, Mr C. A. Wilkinson, M.P. for Egmont, said:— Tiic proposal now before the House has my wannest commendation. I believe it is a step in the right direction, and that the Bill when passed into law will he the means of doing a considerable amount of good in this country. A previous speaker urged that the Government should construct the whole of the branch railways required in ths country. lie must surely have a very short memory, or lie would have recollected what happened last year, when the Government brought down a bill authorising six new lines, what a howl went round when that proposal was made. The Government was accused by lion, members on the oposite side of the House of having authorised those lines for the purpose of gelling poli'.-ical oupport. Well, I represent one district that requires a line of railway. We approached the late Government time after time to build a branch line. And what could from that Government? Absolutely nothing. 'We 'offered to find the interest on the money that would be necessary to build the line, but the Government .would not entertain the proposal for 1 a moment. An Hon. Member: It wou'd, nave mean': borrowing.

'Mr Wilkinson: We offered to find the interest on the money, or wc would have found the money ourselves, but we could not get any satisfaction from the Government. lam glad to say thit the present Government last year authorized the construction of a part of that line. ■"'Mr McDonald: Was not a Commission set up to select that line?

'Mr Wilkinson: That was merely to dodge the issue. Only this evening we heard from that side that the present Government is very fond of setting up Commissions. In the case referred to the. commission was set up in the deliberate intention of dodging the issue.

Mr McDonald: Was the Commission's report no good! 1 Mr Wilkinson: Very little good indeed. As a matter of fact, it recommended a huge railway construction policy which the Government would not think of carrying out. An lion. Member: It is started, at anv rate.

Mr Wilkinson: We have., started it. l ln the district I represent we have a large area of country which is very badly served by roads, and we find it impossible to keep those roads in repair, and the settlers of -this district, which is probably only one out of inanv districts in New Zealand that arc asking for those facilities, want Parliament to give them sufficient power to enable tliem to construct a line of railway for themselves, and under this Bill we get it. An Hon. Member: Did you not get it under last year's Rill? •Mr Wilkinson: No; last year's Bill did not give the facilities we wanted. This Kill provides for the establishment of a board of settlers who will have full power to construct and manage their own railway. Hitherto private companies or persons have not had these powers.

An Hon Member: Not County Councils? Mr Wilkinson: Xo. It has been impracticable to construct a line of railway that runs through several counties • road districts. An lion. Member: There was provision made for that.

j Mr Wilkinson; It is not possible to i work under that provision at all. Wo have counties, for instance, only one portion of which are to be served by a railway, and the bulk of the country within these, county districts would have no interest in it whatever. Therefore, it is very necessary to create a new district, comprising several districts and other districts, and that is what is bein;,' done in this Hill. This Bill is practically on the lines of giving settlors the same facilities to construct lines of railway that the people of the towns have to construct their municipal tramways. It it is right for the City Councils to construct tramways to serve their people I contend that it is only right tl.at ' settlers should have the same facilities to build line 3 to suit their people, particularly when we find it impossible to get the State to do the work. These J Railway Boards will be public bodies, I certainly. This Bill provides for the [creation of a. new public body. It is not a speculative concern in any way whatever. It has been said to-night that if the railways were unprofitable tiny, would lie foisted on the Government. That was a statment made by the 'noil, member for Christchurcli North, Mr Isitt, What do we find when we look over last roar's railway report'! We find that quite a lot of railway* in the Dominion are not paying interest on thei eo-t of construction.

Mr Mac Donald: Are they completed lines?

Mr Wilkinson: Yes. The South IsfcjiJ main lines i""l branches paid £2 18s 4d p? 1 ' tile Kelson nCS' 1 ' 011 J >aul £1 3s od pi? cent; and the Pictoli'section section paiif °n'y 'ls 4il per cent. According to this, it >'oulil not be unfair if some of these Miia.'ter lines were foisted on the State. As !t matter of fact the State should build tlu'nil in the interests of the country, and should not expect the settlers to do the work. I quite agree that that should be doifc, but what) will the settlers do ■when the State will not undertake the work? Are they to stand aside and do nothing at all, and practically become impoverished owing to the fact that they cannot get their produce to market or the requirements of their farms? I coiltend that when settlers are allowed to spend as much money as they like upon the building and upkeep of a road, —and we spend up to £'2ooo a mile in making roads—it is not unfair to let settlers build a light line of railway if tiicy think it necessary to do so. It would often be imich more economical to them, and thercforo more economical to (he State, if they ivexe allowed to do that kind of work, and this Bill allows them til do important public woik of this kind. ! a in not against the public ownership of railways even if they do not pay. I think the State should own the railways, but we are not g'oing to wait for one hundred and fifty years as the lion, member of Wangaiiui said a little while ago. in order to a line considervd. The honourable member in that iu-lanced the Haitihi railway, and said that perhaps one hundred and fifty year- hence that railway would have 'some i en-iileration. Well, if the hon- | Durable gentleman is content to wait for one hundred and lifty years, we are not. Therefore, we want this Bill passed into ilaw. It has also leen pointed out that j this ISill does not provide for tile safety of the travelling public and for the prni per and careful construction of the railways, hnt if members will refer to clause I fi7 they v. ill lind I hat the Oovcrnment ! lias fail [lower to control this important ! mailer. It has been said by the leader ' of t-lio Opposition that this Bill was 1 designed to help the large land-owners, tlmfc It was designed to establish mono-

polies and to help the investors to invest their money in the building of the lines. I do not think that there is any possible reason for arguments of that kind. I believe the settlers will have a great difficulty in raising the money to build the lines, and that no speculators will rush to offer the money. Probably they will find some of the money themselves. I am satisfied that no speculators will t reap a harvest out of Olie transaction,! nor will monopolies be created. This Bill has been debated practically all the evening on strictly party lines, and I think it is a good thing for the country to know exactly wliere the parties stand on this matter. During the pending election, I will have great pleasure in explaining to my constituents that tonight every member on the other side of the House up to now lias opposed the Bill, anil that in effect- they practically tell the people of the country dis- ' tricts, "Wc will not allow you to help | yourselves by building your own railways. You will have to wait until it is our good pleasure to build them for you." We join issue with them on that point. Members on this side of the House will not support tliatf polity.! We expect the Government, if it will not build railways lines for the settlers, to allow them the opportunity of doing the work themselves, and Ibis Bill i.-; the. answer. A very sat-isfiifctory answer indeed. j