SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 164, 13 July 1929, Page 13

SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK.

COST OF CONSTRUCTION.

ESTIMATES DISCOUNTED,

MINISTER QUOTES FIGURES,

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this da v.

The Hon. W. B. Taverner, Minister of Railways, speaking in the House, controverted a suggestion which, he said, had been freely quoted in the public Press* that the cost of the South Island Main Trunk railway completion would be £32,000 per mile. The; Minister produced detailed figures to show that the' average cost- was more likely to work out at £17,600. The Public Works estimate was £27,715.

'•But is it fair?" asked the Minister, "to take even the/ last mentioned sum as a basis for determining operating results. It is a. matter of historical°fact that the line ftom Hurunui to Bluff and various branches were built at an average cost of ;j£r2,200? .per mile. No one would be-.sq foolish as to conclude that a line through very .difficult country in parts of Otago was built at that figure. Why, therefore, single out' the line between Wharanui and Parnassus? Should we not rather take the average cost pf veonstruction at least from Picton toV Christchurch. Here, are the figures.: Picton to Wharanui, £12,T4&. per mile; Christcliurch.• to Waipara, £15,000; Waipara' to Parnassus, £8681; Wharanui to r.Parnassus,. £27,715'. per mile. This works out at an average cost per mile pveo a distanee of: 218 miles at £17,000." ( : •. •

The Minister also quoted railway construction.'figures bf. recent years in the North and South Islands- to show that they ranged from £14,1)00 to £30.000 per mile, and in the ease of Waiotira-Kirko-puni, a .fourteen mile section had cost £75,000 per Leaving out the latter and aiotira, in both cases difficult country, only in one case, at Tau-~ ranga, had the cost of construction exceeded £20,000 per mile. The tendency seemed to be to take the section from Wharanui to Parnassus bv itself, and ask "will it pay?" The Minister suggested that it must be considered part and parcel of the South Island Main Trunk line, not as a branch line or dead end. The area to be covered was approximately 1,039,787 acres, with a capital value of £0,792,084, and a population of over 19,000, while the districts to be' indirectly served by the line contained a population of 29,000. : I

Proceeding, the Minister said that the Commissioner of Crown Lauds in Marlborough, reporting to the : Minister of Lands in -1924, expressed the opinion that l ai ?j Valley, Crown leasehold, had-great potentialities; and construction of an inland road 'would open up an immense " area of fine: pastoral country at>,present practically isolatedfor want of access. If t.his road was constructed, the Commissioner considered the land would be. capable of subdivision into suitable areas that, would settlequite a large number of farmers.