EVENING SITTING.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12867, 27 July 1907, Page 9

EVENING SITTING.

The Hcua» returned at 7.80 p.to* The dieouasion on the Imprest BUpfly Bill woe resumed). Bir JOSEPH WARD quoted flgoiw illustrating the great demalopaiMtt which had taken plaoe itt railway tmflo , ginoo 1895, and the effott# <rf tfato o*. vernraent to oopo with tile ineNtte. He pointed out that 128 tooomofcvrae and 468 pa*jmiger ran hftd been MUUd ' to the rolling atook einoe 1896. Itte Hurunui-Bloiff section wag at pweent ■erred with the maximum aervioe. Deal- , ing with the 00-operatlte labour aytern, he defended it in a tiooroui num.' nor, pointing out that wofk had beam found by thu mount for Urg* boHm of workmen who othemia* h»r* been out of work. On the whole tba . 00-operatire system bad been a Mcd thing for the ooiony. He aieirted Utot the railway system of New 2ealaad ira*'/ . second to none in the world. Mr BERRIES pointed oat that Hμ revenue derived from the , HufttMei* Bluff line was steadily deoreaainf. Inferring to aooidonta on the ttaihriia of the colony, he eeeertod that fbm peroentage w«a mery gmki; In' 1900 tho percentage of aocld*nle to . emptoyoce wae 1 in 24. and in 1906 1 in 20, -vvhereae in Enotand the figaiiai for 1904 were 1 in 160, and in 1906 1 in 154. Mr MABBEY eaid that at the prewnt time tho railways in the North leland earned more per mile than the nil* wave in the South Island. Mr JAMES ALLEN pointed out that tho cost of running per mile of taUwajß had considerably increased eltio* 1897, when the cost per annum waa £149 per mile, and in IMS it WH £252. He added that the Railway Department paid too much for the State 000 l used. The PREMIER, referring to a«idents on the railway*, explained that tho slightest accident wae recorded— even when a man did not leere hi* work. He claimed that the work of tho Railway Department waa being carried on satisfactorily. Tho Bill was put through in all ill stages. The Houee rose at midnight.