PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1258, 28 October 1884, Page 3

PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

The Hod. E. Richardson delivered the Public Works Statement on Friday night, of which the following is a brief summary , In introducing the Statement, he said that he had not had time to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the proceedings of the various branches of the Public Works Department, and had to depend to a great extent upon the figures and reports supplied by the heads of those departments. The reduction made in the railway staff in 1881-2 were more apparent than real, and though he was not as yet prepared to state to what extent reductions could be made, he was of opinion that the staff was much larger than was necessary f° r the due supervision of the works the colony now had in hand. On the 31st March, 1884, the colony had 1404 miles of railway open for traffic, on which there had been expended the sum of £11,261,633. and there vyere 234 miles in course of construction. It was to this 234 miles of unfinished railway that the Colonial Treasurer principally alluded when be stated that it would be their endeavor to push on a speedy completion the various unfinished portions of lines, so as to add this extra mileage to our revenueTproducing railways,. He then referred to the surveys that had been made in both Islands during the vear, and to a few of die works had been executed on the lines of railway were open for traffic previously to the 31st March,! 1883, outside ordinary repairs and renewals, and expressed the opinion that a great many of the works which had been carried out earlier than was

necessary, to the embarrassment of the Government. Without wishing 1 to east any reflection on the present General Manager of Kail ways, he unhesitatingly expressed his opinion that the condition and management of our railways are in a very very unsatisfactory state, and he did not think that it would be any better until the railways were placed under Boards of Managemenl. He believed that the passenger tariff would have to be reduced. Nearly all the traffic now was on the days when the cheaper fares are obtainable. Comparing the quantity of goods carried over the railways during the year 1883-84, with the year 1882-83, thev found as follows Live stock, number in 1882-83, 478,003 ; 1883-84, 686,287; goods, tons, 1,564,823 ; 1,700,040. From this it would be seen that thsra was an increase during the year 1883-84, but he considered the increase would have been much larger had more determined efforts had been made to attract traffic on the railways. In some instances carriers on the roads were successfully competing with the railways, and he thought they would agree with him that this should not be. Th? vote takes for roads north of Auckland fast year was £45,000, but as there were liabilities existing at the end of the previous year amounting to £12,200, the sum available for distribution was £32,800, In the Middle Island the only important roads on which the Government were doing much work were from Blenheim to Nelson, Nelson to the West Coast, and Hokitika to Christchurch. Bridges had also been completed, or are in progress, over the Wairau, Clarence, Wainu, Rakaia, and Taieri rivers. During the twelve months ending the 31st of March last a sum of £84,361 had been expended in the construction of roads to open up Crown lands before sale. Out of the sum of £268,315 on the Estimates for 1883-84, of which £205,000 was allocated out of the last loan of £3,000,000, the sum of £103,713, including liabilities, was on tlie 31st March last available for the carrying on of the road lines already on the Estimates. It was proposed to ask the House for a further vote this year of £29,595, to open up of land in the several land districts which have been surveyed but withheld from disposal by the Department pending their being opened up by roads. The amount applied for by local bodies for works under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act was £224,588, and that granted was £70,681. The amount applied for district roads and river works, to be repaid in 15 years, £30,596 ; £22,941 of this was for roads and £1446 for river works. An expenditure of £26,603 was made in the construction of roads on the goldfields, and on waterworks. There were still liabilities to the extent of £17,197 on the goldfields roads an I £7383 on the waterwoiks. The areas of land, the purchases of which were completed during the year ending the 31st March last, were as follows:—In the Auckland provincial dis- • . h*n hm . Li 4-lia Walli'nrffnn

trict, 77,721 acres ; in the Wellington provincial district, 120,861 acres , and in the Taranaki provincial district, 10,280 acres ; amounting in all to 208,862 acres. The total area of native land purchased under the Immigration and Public Works Acts up to the 31st March last was 3,958,233 acres, at a cost of £828,866, and a further area of 1,013,053 acres was under purchase, on which £92,827 bad been paid. The total disbursements up to the end of March last were £921,693. As the House was aware, the schedule to the Loan Act of 1882, provided a sum of £200,000 for immigration. Since that time assisted and free passages had been granted to 9619 immigrants. The total number of immigrants introduced by the Colonial Government since the inauguration of the scheme was 110,833. Since the Ist March last, even nominated immigration (except for single women) had been suspended. Instructions had been given that in all cases where the nomination money had been already paid, passages are to be provided for the persons nominated.

The work done towards the extension of telegraph lines during the past year consisted of 100 miles new lines, and 800 miles of additional wire extended partly on new lines and partly on lines previously existing. The total length of the telegraph lines now existing in the colony was 4074 miles, carrying 10,037 miles of wire, and in addition to this the transmitting capacity of the wire was increased by 2800 miles, which was duplexed. The extension at present contemplated amounts to 142 miles of line.

The total expenditure on public buildings in both Islands during the year amounted to £164,376, and the liabilities at the end of March last were £41,753. He then briefly referred to the lighthouses and harbor works at Greymouth, Westport, Kaipara, etc., and then touched on the coal industry, which he said was slowly but surely increasing in importance. NEW WORKS. The proposals for the future which he submitted had been decided on after long discussions with his colleagues. Taking the present year as a starting point, the object after this year would he to bring the expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund wilhin the means of that fund, without the aid of the Property Tax. He foresaw that this could easily be done by shifting to local expenditure some of the present charges made on the Consolidated Fund, notably the charitable expenditure and some other small items some £IOO,OOO aiyear. It was clear that the local bodies could not undertake this without an additional revenue, and, to dispense with needless points of controversy at present, they might-suppose that £IOO,OOO was supplied by either a property tax or a land tax ; but other revenue would also have to be supplied to local bodies, as it could not be satisfactory to continue for a lengthens d period the policy of making and maintaining roads and bridges out of borrowed money, which was virtually what bad been going on for some time. There were three sources of increased revenue or increased means to which they looked forward. First the natural net increase of revenue from year to year ; second, the increase of revenue from new railways, and also the increase in revenue (apart from natural increases) from existing railways, as they are fed by new railways, roads, and bridges ; and third, the annual saving from reduced rates of interest on loans converted. Tiie annual increase of revenue next year and for years to come should he £50,000 ; an addition each year to the saving on account of conversion of £20,000 and £25,000 increase on account of new works ; in all £95,000. The Government considers that this justifies our borrowing

a million and a-half during next year, and one to one and ..-half millions a year after. Tne additional burden of this million and a-half will amount, at present rates, to £60,000 ; but probably in a year or two the money may be borrowed at 3| instead of 4 per cen>. He had not forgotten the additional charge of the third million to be negotiated nut year, but in considering tire difference between this year and next it had to be remembered that tha ■ interest on money obtained by temporary expedients, and in anticipation of the loau, would cover the amount of interest on the third, million. It was a million and a-half that, as had already been stated, they proposed to take authority to borrow, and they proposed that it should cover expenditure up to the end of March, 1886. He had not taken into account the annual charge of the'North Island trunk line one million loan, because up to the extent of £IOO,OOO he thought they could provide for that line out of the million and a-half, and the Government wished to defer negotiating that loan until the expenditure on tha lino was very heavy. They proposed to ask the House to vote in all this year, for liabilities already existing and for new undertakings to he entered into, the sum of £3,810,280, made up as follows ; —For immigration, with liabilities at end of August amounting to £62,280, we ask for a vote of £IOO,OOO ; for general department expenses, with liabilities £12,759, we ask fora vote of £30,057 ; for railways we ask for a vote of £1,567,516. On this sura we have to charge £903,898 for existing liabilities, and it also includes £522,584f0r additions to opened lines ; but of the £522,584 there are existing liabilities of £345,295. We have also to pay out of this vote for railways, for renewals on working railways, the stun of £IOO,OOO, and there are existing liabilities under this head of £48,868. The £IOO,OOO has, however, to be repaid to the Public Works Fund by the working railways. For roads, with liabilities of £359,464, we ask for a vote of £737,008. This includes £304,200 for grants in and under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, on which there aie liabilities amounting to £204,200. For waterworks on goldfields, liabilities £7663, we ask for a vote of £12,857. For purchase of native lands in tha North Island, we ask for a vote £90,000, that being the amount estimated to be required to meet the payments which will become due during the year now current. For telegraph extension, with liabilities of £20,423, we ask for a vote of £29,322. For public buildings, with liabilities £54,526, we ask for a vote of £171,104. For light-houses and harbor works, vrith liabilities £26,983, we ask for a vote of £55,916, and for charges and expenses of raising loan we ask for a vote of £16,500, that being the amount estimated to be required to cover the cost of raising the rlast million loan which was floated in England. He then enumerated the railways with which the Government proposed to proceed, and also made a few remarks on the roads.