THE ESTIMATES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 35, 20 November 1937, Page 2

THE ESTIMATES

SEVEN VOTES PASSED. COST OF THE RAILWAYS. (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, November 19. The House of Representatives met at 10.30 to-day. Urgency was granted the passing of seven classes of the Estimates. Discussing the Printing and Stationery Department vote of £238,000, the Minister in Charge of the Department (the Hon. P. C. Webb), replying to a question why an accountant had been appointed Government Printer, said that while it would have been desirable to have a man with a knowledge of all branches of the trade in the position, it was essential also that the holder of that office should have a businesstrained mind. The vote was passed and tlie House proceeded with the consideration of the Mines Department vote of £44,000. The Minister of Mines (the Hon. P. C. Webb) said that no Government had done so much in the direction of encouraging organised prospecting as the present Administration. The Minister stated that he was very keen in the discovery of gold and would do all ill his power to assist it. The vote was passed. The next vote to be considered was £333,040 for the State Coal Mines Account. ! Mr Webb said, in reply to questions, that the State mine had increased the price of coal less than any other mines, but showed a profit of over £14,000. The vote w r as passed. Speed of Rail-Cars. Discussing the railways working account of £7,687,967, Mr H. S. S. Kyle (National, Riccarton), said that the loss on the railways last year was £1,405,000, and this year it looked as if it would be £1,700,000. This was interesting in view of the changed system of management in the railways, and should convince the Government that there w r as something to be said in favour of the old management. He critieised the speed at which rail-cars travelled, and said that several people whom he knew would not enter a railcar because of their high speeds. Mr J. Hargest (National, Awarua) pointed out that there had been a great many more railway accidents in the last two years than there had been before, although he did not think these were caused by the state of the rollingstock. He drew attention toi the increase in the estimates for railway buildings which, he said, was alarming. The Minister of Railways (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan), referring to the criticism of the rail-cars, said that these were exceedingly popular, and also were very profitable so far as the Department was concerned. The difficulty was to get enough of them to meet the demand. As the Department secured an increased number of rail-cars it would be able to do away with more mixed freight trains. Road services were proving quite profitable, he said, and he asked members to differentiate between natural charges which were incurred by the Department and those imposed upon it by Parliament this year. The nett revenue of the railways was down by £147,000, compared with the previous year, while costs had increased by £517,000. Of the latter sum, Parliamentary action had been responsible for £431,000 of the cost for increased wages, reduced hours, etc. The Leader of the Opposition (the Hon. Adam Hamilton) said that the Minister’s explanation of increased expenditure appeared to him to be more in the nature of an apology than an explanation. ; One would have thought, he said, that the increased business would have meant increased profits; but this was apparently not the case with the railways. He thought the Minister required to pay the very closest attention to the rapidly increasing expenditure by the Department. The vote was passed. Speaking on the vote of £327,590 for the Justice and Prisons Department, Mr Smith asked if the Minister would consider that payments for juries be increased. The Attorney-General (the Hon. H. G. R. Mason) replied that increases in payments of juries would be favourably considered, and the vote was passed without further -discussion. The vote of £7869 for the Crown Law Office was also passed with little discussion. Altogether seven classes of the Estimates, involving the sum of £8,648,309, were passed during the day. The Sale of Wool Bill was put through the committee stages, read a third time and passed without discussion. The House rose at 4.45 p.m. until

2.30 p.m. on Monday. The Minister drew the attention of the House to the increase of £78,000 in the cost of fuel for the railways, purchase of road services, installation of new sidings and various improvements, at a cost of £12,000. With regard to road services, the profit on these last year was £SOOO and this year it would be £27,000. The actual increase in the cost of all railway services, apart from wages, hours, etc., was about £244,000 and for that increase the service had carried 1,000,000 extra passengers and 500,000 tons of extra goods.