PARLIAMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8496, 27 July 1907, Page 4

PARLIAMENT.

(Abridged from Press AssoMati on Report.) LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. WELLINGTON, July 26. ' The Council met at 2.30 p.m. The Hastings Recreation Reserves ; Billjwas committed and progress re--1 ported. The Council adjourned until 8.30 p.m. for the Imprest Supply Bill. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. The House met at 2.30 p.m. Mr W. F. Massey advocated the setting up of a Public Works Committee to which all applications for expenditure of public works money should be referred. The Premier said that no matter what the committee said or recommended, the Government had to allocate the amount available for public works to the best advantage and be guided by its officers. He added that no new railway works would be undertaken as there were seventeen or eighteen lines now in hand, and to open up new lines meant allocating public works money in driblets to convey the impression that new railways were being constructed in particular districts. He could not agree with Mr Massey's suggestion for a Public Works Committee as members would have to travel all over the country during the recess inspecting and taking evidence. They would require to be paid, and the cost to the country would be enormous. The Imprest Supply Bill was brought down by Governor's Message. On the motion to go into committee on the Bill, Mr W. Herries, referring to- the railways, said he did not see any indication of a greater effort being made to increase the rolling stock, and charged the Department with short-sightedness in that respect. He was sure that if the Premier asked for £500,(00 to increase the rolling stock the house would gladly give it. He drew attention to the enormous increase in the cost of construction per mile. It was stated year after year that the cost under the cooperative system was less than by contract, yet the cost of construction per mile had steadily increased. The House adjourned at 5.30 p.m. EVENING SITTING.The House resumed at 7.30 p.m. The Premier quoted figures illustrating the great development which had taken place in railway ti-affic since 1895, and the efforts of the Government to cope with the increase. He pointed out that 129 locomotives and 468 passenger cars had been added to the rolling stock since 1895. He showed that in many other respects the were met by increases up to 100 per cent. Referring to the increase in the cost of construction, he pointed out that the permanent way was built to a higher standard than in the eaiiy days. Dealing with the co-operative system he defended it in a vigorous manner, pointing out that work had been found by this means for large bodies of workmen who otherwise would have been, workless. Mr Massey said that at the present time the railways of the North Island earned more per mile than the rail~ ways of the South Island. . ....