PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT,

Temuka Leader, Issue 2405, 29 September 1892, Page 3

PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT,

NO MORE BORROWING. The Hon. Mr Seddon delivered his Public Works Statement in the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening last. He dwelt at some ength on the improvement in the credit of the colony, and on its generally prosperous condition siuce the Government decided to stop further borrowing. The reduced expenditure might not be satisfactory to those who wanted further borrowing, but when they saw they had to pay £1,842,686 a year as interest on loan it waf« time to taper off. PUBLIC WORKS FUND. The unexpended funds in hand on March 31st, 1891, was £718,096, receipts during the year £350,071, making a total of £1,068,167. The expenditure was £491,612, including £IOO,OOO paid off the floating debt, leaving a balance of £566,555, with a liability of £313,871, which left a net balance of only £262,684. To this is to be added £200,000, which will be applied to public works from the surplus of next year, £50,000 under the Government loans to local bodies, and £2OOO from other sources, making in all £828,555 as the amount available for expenditure during the present year. The total amount for expenditure during the year was £661,765, and also £166,790 which would not be spent on the 31st March next, making the total apjtfopriation £779,216, and leaving a balance for future expenditure of £49,339. The expenditure from the beginning of the public works policy till March 31st last was as follows : Railways £15,362,110 Roads 3,604,925 Immigration 2,145,967 Public Buildings 1,815,577 Purchase of Native Lands ... 1,248,775 Lighthouse and Harbor Pefences 889,165 Defence Purposes 429,719 Telegraph 634,421 Waterworks on Goldfields ... 513,358 Discount on Raising Loans 1,021,492 Departmental ~, ... £59,965 Making in all £28,379,541. Great departmental saving had been effected, and he often feared he had gone too far in that direction. The excellent manner in which the work had been done had, however, proved that he had acted rightly. As the work of officers had greatly increased he proposed increasing salaries slightly. The total increases would come to £230.

THE RAILWAYS. The length of lines completed and m hand during the year was 31 miles 8 chains, and the total length of railways opened for traffic was 1867 miles. The total earnings for the year was £1,115,431 not profit £408,914, being £5086 less than the Commissioners' estimates, and £12,084 less than the net revenue of the previous year. The railways this year paid £2 15s 9d per cent on the capital invested, whereas they paid £2 18s lid and £2 19s 5d the year before. The gross revenue decreased by £6270, the net revenue £12,084, and the rate of interest 3s 2d per cent. The coal carrying lines on the west coast earned £7 6s per cent, the Greymouth Bection £5 15s 5d per cent, the Napier- Wanganui-New Plymouth section £3 2s lOd per cent, Nelson £1 4s 9d per cent. On the Hurunui-Bluff section, that is the line running from north of Chaistchurch to Invercargill, the falling off in the gross revenue was £42,799, the net revenue £38,623, in the rate qf interest 12,s Id per cent, while the working expenses increased by 3.36 per cent, The number of passengers on all railways decreased by 24,885, tonnage by 88,036, and these results have been produced notwithstanding that the length of lines had been increased by 27 miles, These unsatisfactory results led the Government to introduce a measure for a change of management, and he hoped the measure would be carried. The Zone system had given satisfaction where it had been tried, and when the Commissioners' term of office expired it might be given a trial. There was no possibility of the }ing fit-out raising i) ii'iiif)'hfcd arxivdfl' for t'Kat, 'pQ-orEIIATIVB SYSTEM. Mr Seddon dwelt at some on the co-operative. Bys*Cm of labour, winch he shic!. WM highly satisfactory. The men practically classified, the engineers took the position of the ycntniptprj and the o*'e:).Eiiqi' aptpc} as foreman. The Government had the expenditure thoroughly under control, and could knock off work at any time, whereas, if let to a contractor, the molney would have to be fourd. T/h e number of men working 0.,m wo-operative had greatly reduced during tfye J&st few mouth?. The question was whether the system could not be extended. He had let two miles of permanent way lately arid Wfts await'-jngj results. It Wf|S ini;enJ4o,ii to adhere to the principle that the work should not cost more than it done by contract. LOCAL INDUSTRIES. New Zealand made cement and iron had proved to bo equal to the imported articles, and in "lauy instances, auperior.

find it was the intention of the Government to give them a preference in future. RAILWAYS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Mr Seddon then dealt with railways under construction. For the KamoKawakawa £30,000 was required ; Helensville northwards, £15,000 ; Grahamstown Te Aroha, last year's vote was sufficient; Rotorua, £35,000 ; North trunk line, last year's vote ; Eketahuna-Woodville, £15,000; Te Aro extension, last year's vote ; Blenhiem-Awatere, last year's vote ; Westport-Ngakawau-Mokihinui, funds are provided by Westport Harbor : Otago Central: This was the most impertant work in the Middle Island and would be pushed forward vigorously, for which he would ask £36,000; Catlins river, £4,721 ; and Seaward Beach, £12,000. The appropriations proposed for railway works this year total a sum of £390,755, against a total appropriation of £490,276 or an actual expenditure of £153,736 last year. A very much larger sum could doubtless be profitably expended in railway construction if the funds were available, and were it desirable to" allow the public works expenditure to reach a larger figure; but in view of the fact that our ways and means are somewhat limited, the policy of the Government and the country is against a large loan expenditure. He thought the allocation of moneys amongst the several lines indicated above may be accepted as a fair and satisfactory one. MIDLAND RAILWAY. Of this line 4 miles 54 chains on the Brunnerton end has been open for traffic, ten miles of the Springfield-Brunerton section are now ready, and several miles were in course of construction. And this is all that had been done, although it was now 1\ years since the contract was let and the company understook to complete it in ten years. It was obvious that this would not be done. Concessions which had saved the company half a million of money had already been made, but the company now wanted a State guarantee. As the question was before a Committee of the House he did not think it right to comment upon it. ROADS. The expenditure on roads last year was £11,739, with liabilities £4945. He proposed to spend £16,000 on roads this year, as more country was to be opened up in the interest of settlement. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. Last year £137,075 was voted for public buildings ; the expenditure was only £86,921, but liabilities to the extent of £23,000 remained. The Purirua Lunatic Asylum was the principal work, and additions to Sunnysideand post office of Christchurch and Invercargill. This year a total appropriation of £103,687 was required. The principal items would be improvements in Sunnyside, and Seacliff asylums, Christchurch and Invercargill post offices, new gaol at Dunedin, new courts at Stratford, Palmerston North, and Rangiora, new Police Stations at Temuka, Dargaville, Greymouth, Waikaia, and the connecting Christchurch Government buildings with drainage. MISCELLANEOUS. Up to the present 5,355,457 acres of native land had been since the inauguration of the public works scheme purchased, and there was 1,400,777 acres under negotiation. During the last two years 50,000 acres had been purchased. He hoped the Bill before Parliament would pass, and that funds would be raised by means of debentures. The sum of £SOOO would be required for the gold fields, j To show how they had been tapering off expenditure, he produced the following I table : 1885-86 £1,475,886 1886-87 £1,333,484 1887-88 £866,159 1888-89 £613,939 1889-90 £482,404 1890-91 £334,756 1891-92 £295,978

He had not much money to spend, and he hoped that it would be admitted he had allocated it as fairly as possible.