THE ESTIMATES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 43, 30 November 1937, Page 3

THE ESTIMATES

RAILWAYS AND IRRIGATION. QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE. MINISTER'S STATE POLICY. (Abridged from Press Association). WELLINGTON, November 29. In the House to-day, urgency was accorded the passing of the Public Works Estimates and the proceedings preliminary thereto, namely, consideration of the Public Works Statement. The Leader of the Opposition (the Hon. Adam Hamilton) commenting on the Public Works Report, said it appeared to be full of self-praise and a bit of a boost for the Government. A few years ago £25,000,000 to £30,000,000 was being spent on public works, but this year it would appear it would reach the £50,000,000 mark. Mr Hamilton complained of the apparent confusion existing between the Public Works Statement, the Public Works Estimates and the Budget, and said it would provide an unsolvable problem ’to the cleverest accountant in the Dominion. In answer to a question by Mr Savage, who asked him to point out some specific case where the figures failed to tally, Mr Hamilton quoted a sum of £4,165,000 in the Main Highways Account and that for roads, highways, etc., of £5,708,000 in the Budget. It seemed to him that confusion and the withholding of certain information was a weapon which the Government was using. He compared the total of £17,367,000 for public works in the Budget with the total of £13,370,000 in the Public Works Estimates. It was pretty hard to make those two totals tally. He asked tho Minister to tell them where the money was coming from for public works. Was it coming from loan funds, from the Consolidated Fund, Highways Fund and Unemployment Fund? The Minister had said all the works being done were useful and essential, but he (Mr Hamilton) said he thought it would be better if he had called it relief work. The Minister of Finance, said Mr Hamilton, ,had stated that the money would come from the Post Office Savings Bank and from other Government departments. It seemed to him that funds might be running short by this time. He emphasised the fact that the wool cheque might be reduced by half this year, and contended that in boom times we should at least live within our income. Much of the public works being done, he said, would not return interest on its own investment, and lie felt that under the present programme we were getting ahead of the nation s ability to carry, its own debt. Some of the money being spent on the elimination of level crossings was absolute waste, and he instanced one of these crossings in the Awa-rua electorate which had been wanted by. no one but had been insisted on by tho Minister. Mr Hamilton asked what the railways now being constructed were costing per mile, and advised caution in expenditure on new works. Replying to a question by Mr H. S. S. Kyie (Nationalist, Riccarton), the Minister of public Works (the Hon. R Semple) said the revised estimate of the cost of completion of the South Island Main Trunk Railway was £2,862,000. The estimated time for the completion of the line was four years, but the engineers considered that if they could get the necessary steel, etc., a year could be knocked off that time.

New Christchurch Station, Mr Kyle asked llie Minister if the Government still intended to place the new Christchurch railway' station on the site occupied by the present station. He thought that perhaps it might be advisable to place it at Addington, where the line joined the north main trunk line. He also asked if the Tawa , Flat deviation in Wellington were proving as great a saving as the last Government considered it would. The Minister of Railways (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan), with reference to the Christchurch railway station, referred to the suggestion that the line running through the city be raised to eliminate numerous level crossings in the city. He thought this suggestion had really been dropped. In any case the price would be prohibitive, amounting to some seven or eight million pounds. Speaking to Mr Kyle’s suggestion that the station should be placed at Addington, he thought it desirablo to have the station as near as possible to the heai t of the city. Personally, he thought a mistake had been made in shifting the Auckland station site. It had been decided, and all arrangements had been made for the extension of the present station site for the new Christchurch station. The necessary land had been acquired and the new station would junction up at the eastern end of the present station. They were almost ready to start out on some phases of work in connection with the new station. In answer to a further question by Mr. J. Hargest (National, Awarua), Mr Sullivan said that rail cars would certainly be used in the South Island, in fact, they would bo used wherever it was possible to use them. Rail cars cost about £BOOO each, and the running charges were about Is a mile. They were proving very profitable indeed. Sites for Buildings. The Minister of Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple), answering a question by Air Dickie concerning die Government’s proposal to have a number of Government buildings grouped round Parliament buildings in Wellington, said the Government was paying £26,000 a year rent for various offites scattered throughout the city. Some were not fit for human beings to work in. Answering a question by Mr Hamilton, Mr Semple stated that bv the use of radio direction finding apparatus ships could find their locations even in a dense fog. The service would contribute largely to the prevention of accidents at sea and in the air.

Replying to questions raised by Mr Hamilton, the Minister said, the Main South Railway line was costing 1130,000 a mile to build. Under the last Government tho Napier line cost £39,000 a mile, and the North Auckland line £75,000 a mile. There had been a lot of criticism with reference to the amount spent on main highways, but it had to be borne in mind that a lot of bridges had outlived their usefulness and had to be replaced. The question of removing dangerous bends was essential work. Mr Semple said that since 1925 198 persons had been killed in level crossing accidents and 414 had been seriously injured. Some had suggested that over-bridges were not essential, but they could not wait for the death roll to mount. Ho had no apology to. make for the money spent in eliminating dangerous crossings. Referring to the question of improving back country roads, the Minister said that when the Supplementary Estimates came down it would be seen that the Government had made, proper provision for that work. Irrigation. Discussing the vote of £156,500 for lands improvement, Mr Hamilton asked how the money for this purpose was obtained. Was it from loan money? h 6 asked. He also referred to the vote of £IOO,OOO for the Ashburton irrigation scheme, emphasising' that care was needed in case the scheme turned the land “sour.” A water supply scheme was essential, lie said, but he asked the Minister if an investigation had been carried out to ascertain the effect of the irrigation scheme on the soil. The Minister, replying, said investigations had been carried out and proved that the results of irrigation were so valuable that the Government had decided to push on with tho major work. He instanced one area in the district which carried one sheep to the acre, but when irrigation had been applied tho same land carried 15 ewes and their lambs to the acre. The Hon. F. Langstone (Minister for Lands), replying to questions concerning the settlement of unemployed workers on the land, said they had about 1000 to 1200 men on land development work. They would soon have 1500. These men were engaged on marginal lands. The vote for this work totalled £486,000, which was made up of £300,000 loan money and credits-in-aid of £186,000. The idea was to- have these lands worked to get the best results possible and retrieve the £300,000, also the £186,000. Speaking of the demand that these men should be given titles to their properties, he said he did not think it was right to give away £186,000 of the country’s money to a few settlers. He thought there was a lot of humbug talked about giving these people their land titles. They had- a good job and received a regular income. Those promised leases by the previous Minister of Lands had received them. Land Development. The Minister of Labour (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong), said the 1212 men employed on land development work were paid, not 17s a week as paid by the previous Government, but £4 a week. Altogether they had about 2000 men on 4A, 4B and 4F schemes working for the direct benefit of farmers to say nothing of the eradication of rabbits and noxious weeds. Never while the Opposition was in office was anything like the same amount spent for the direct benefit of the farmer as was being spent to-day. The Public Works Estimates were finally completed by 10.30 p.m., when the House rose.