MR J.B. WHYTE ON THE PUBLIC WORKS POLICY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2193, 29 July 1886, Page 2

MR J. B. WHYTE ON THE PUBLIC WORKS POLICY.

4> Tiirc following is the report of Mr Whyle'.s speech on the Public Works Policy of the Govern merit : — 11b had a few remaiics to make on the general question befniu tho House, Imt he thst wished to draw attention to a para graph on the first pag<> of the Public Works Statement with reference to the negotiations for the purchase hv the Government of the \V«u:uca district railway. In it the Minister s,iid th.it in lhi>. mattei the Colouifil Tieruji-or, tb'> Premier and tne Mnnstei of Mines hnd > guested liim jind hi*, other colleague to conduct the negotiations 1 themselves without considering them. Fiom this it was evident that at -ill p vents throe of the minor lights of the Ministry had been permitted at last to 4i raw alone " and to conduct an impoi taut negotiation without inte.feiem"; tr-un the leading minds in the Ministry. This was evidently the invst occasion in which this had been done, as otherwise it would not have \k"h stated ho pi eminently. Ho (the speakei) was gl tri of this, as he liad always thought that the other members of th« Cabinet bad never been allowed enough rope by thft two leading nrnds m the Cabinet. He hid ahvoy*. had tho higlv-t opim-m of the rndividiul abilities of Uie members of the Gowr.unent, and haw.therefore very gl.i'i to iVar that they had been so to speak, "let off the chain." He also took a particular interest in this because, now that the Government had appreciated the policy of the Opposition, ho was anxious to see that policy as etHciontly carried uut as possible, and the best way to attain this was to allow full scope- to the abilities of all the meiribers of the Government. Now, a good deal in that direction h.ud already been done. For instance, the Minister of Justice had been allowed not only to introduce bills but also to make speeches upon them without being jumped upon by one of his colleagues, and very good speeches they were too. Then the Minister for Mines had made two mining statements, and able as the first was there was no doubt the second was still more so. So far, the results were tiierefore satisfactorily. Ho would theiefore venture respectfully to suggest that the two leading members of the Government should in future allow their colleagues to be " off the chain " permanently ; of course subject to "good behaviour." Now referring to the Public Works Statement, there was much in it which confirmed the Financial Statement, and there was also much which did the revetse. For instance the Treasurer had said in the Financial Statement that " the obligations which remain to be fulfilled make it necessary that other means should be provided, and at present the only other means existent is the North Island Trunk Railway Loan. The Public Works Statement, he was sorry to say, showed that to be absolutely correct, as, light or wrong, that loan was to be misappropriated. Then again the Treasurer had said "It is always well to pio\e figures by nniving at them in two ways, and that the double view gives the actual result." Well, the state of the colonial finances had now been given in two ways, and we ceit.unly now had obtained the " actual lesult." In the fir&t view tho Treasurer had said that we had nearly £800 000 available for now works other than railways, and that the proposed loan of a million and a-half would b. 1 - all available for new railways. It was pointed out to him lcpeatedly that he had in stating th it undo no provision for nearly £1,100, 000 of liabilities then outstanding ; but ho still stuck to his to\t. Now we have the second view of the case in the Public Works Statement, and put shortly, it is a's follows :—lf: — If you deduct fiibt from the above £1,100,000, £200,000 for purch ise of native land, and declare that it is not a liability at all, that of course reduces the*e awkward liabtlities to something under £1)00,000. Then if we charge nearly £400,000 of liability for railway woiks to the iipw lo m it is again reduced to nndei £r>oo.ooo. Then again if we charge njarly £300,000 for railway material now on hand to the new loan that awkward total is still fuither reduced to t'200,000. Also if we chai •(<.'. certain itvins to the North I-land Trunk Hallway to the amount of about £100,000 then ' remains about £100,000 of a discrepancy which th ' Treasurei has now admitted exists. \YV|| nobody will dispute th.it, so by the double view we have now the "aetml n.suit," an i it is this : H:ilf of the now loan is already pp'ne, £1209,000 of contingent liabilities f->r native land i; left unprovided for, £300,000 with of railway mnteiial has been purchased oefore it was needed, and the North Island Trunk Kail way Loan i^ mortgaged. What the country may think of that position of affairs remain^ to be seen. Then the Government say that they pro^ne to n.ake the North Island Trunk Ildhvay Loan '* mahenabl *. ' Well, tie meaning »»f teim-* very often depends ou the applioition of them, and if by " inalien ible ' it was meant that tli", pr iceed-. of tiie loan we»e to I>i3 put beyond tne reach of the votes of the House, then certainly no betti j i means could be found of doing ~<> than by buying bad land with them. Of i-oni'se it nnjrht b° siid that they need n t buy bad laud, but certainly, «\en if than hid been their deliberate intention, n< Mirer method could ha pursued than by conducting these native land purchases on commission, and that ci>m:uis->ion at b>> much per acre, irrespective of the quality of the land. He kuew there was plenty or good land on the line of railway which might be secured, and he also knew the gentlemen employed, viz. Mes-rs Grace and Mitchell, and he readily admitted they were as good men as the Government were likely to get, but still, human nature and the inevitable result of land purchase on a system of com mission of so much por acre irrespective of quality, must be that the colony will get a deal of bad land, and that the natives will keep a great deal of Mie good. Then the fact had not been denied, even by the Native Minister, that a law existed which prohibited native land purchase on commission, aud yet it was going on. So a broach of the law was being peipetrated. Then came the statement said that the North Island Trunk Railway was to be completed in 1890, and that in fact an exhibition was to be held in Auckland in that year to celebrate the in ent. Now when he heard that statement he naturally turned to the estimates to find out if, that were, probable. To his surprise, however, he found that only £K5,000 of new money was to be voted in this year, and £109.000 more for the year ending in -March 1888. Bearing that in mind it was simply absurd to say that the line would bo finished in lSIld. The Colonial Treasurer mu*t really have formed a very low estimate of the intelligence of the House when he expected them to accept that statement. However, it had to be borne in mind that meanwhile the money for its conduction would continue to be made inalienable in the sense that in all probability it would be beyond their reach. Then the Minister said that the Governniet would be more strictly tied down to carry out their proposals than certain previous Governments had been. He was glad to hear this, as it showed that the Government were aware of their own weakness. He would, however, remind the House that in introducing the million and halt loan of ISB4, the Treasurer said that if. was for the purpose of replacing amounts which had been abstracted from the three million loan and he would also ask them how much had already been replaced. Then, in the matter of expen iiturc in open railways, the Goverment had also adopted the policy ot the Opposition, notwithstanding the fact that this was one of their principle points of attack upon the late Government. It would be found by the e*tim ites that large amounts had been expended in this way, and in the schedule of tho Loan Bill £l."i 0,000 was set aside for this purpose. Then it was repeatedly j declared by the Government that the construction of railways hhould be pushed on vigorously, and that this could bo do-m with the amount to be borrowed under this bill. Lst us see whore this vigour appears on the. estimate*. Take first the North .it Aucidmd Railway, which was estimated to cost £713.000 ; this year they wero asked to vote t'JOOO, and ne\t year £4(5,000 more, £.')0,000 in nil. Then for the Rotorua R.ulwav, otilv t,'1.">,000 was to bo voted this year, and even this h\is accompanied by tho somewhat ominous ptuteuicnt that recent changes in that neighbourhood would be 11 carefully considered." He trusted th.it phv.iso would not ho found to onean the same as one which lvid passed almost into a proverb, vu., ''tliat it would be kept steadily in vuv.v/' Then he had al*o shown how little money was to be voted for tho Noith Island Trunk Kailwny this year, notwithstanding the fact that the money was available, and could be raised any day. Now why wa.< this. Surely the Government were not purposely delaying work upon this line in order that the loan might be drawn upon btill further when necessity preyed, frr other purpo-.es, as was now b.Miig do«ii . Then for the Otago Central, wlrch was estimated to cost one or two mi lions, only £30,000 wa ? asked this ye ir. So much for tho vigorous policy which wo were pro-

nji.«ed. There was, however, one exception, ho was sorry to say, in which, apparently, HuiiiO vjpr,,,],. UHS t,, i_, e s h,,vvn, and that wag tho Greymonth-Kokitilca I'a !iv.»y,for which £.'K),000 w.is to bo allocated this year. now it had been currently icportod that List session fcfio Premier had e\r)rt«saed tl.o djiiimm that this was <m " utterly usuleaa' 1 iai!v/ay. Jf that weiuwi, thcin he prenunind i,li;iL tiio J'reiuier had "reconsidered hit convictions," At nil events iie'waß sorry to nee that so large a Mini was to bo devoted to a railway, of which such ii low estimate withheld by uiany meuibers of the House. Therefore, reviewing the whole position at icgtinta our fin.uict', and the so-called \ i' e 'oi\tuH policy of the Cli>\i>rnrncnt, ho wa» inoiistioly dnven to tho haino conclusion as th« Tie«(surftr had an hod at (although by quite a different 1 process of reasoning) whtifi he said in lih Financial Statement that " ninny geiuir.iti'ms will jj.ihs away before thu colonieM iindoi the .Southern Croei reach the culniimidnjr gruatiich^of their destiny."