RAILWAYS' EXPENDITURE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 977, 18 November 1910, Page 4

RAILWAYS' EXPENDITURE.

"MINISTERIAL PREJUDICE." (By Tetegraph.-Speciftl Correspondent! Auckland, November 16. •The "New Zealand Herald," referring to the Public Works Statements, contrasts the. expenditure. on the,'different lines in the South Island with that oa the North Auckland lines, and goes on to say: "last, year the votes lor the South exceeded those'for the Norths by the Urge sum of ,£162,000. . An. attempt was made to justify this glaring inequality on the grounds that it was expedient to bring several large works to the point, of completion. ■ . That, : excuse, however, wUI not bear examination in the ■ light of the figures now supplied, . for the total vote asked for railways in. the South this year is only ,£IB,OOO less than last year. It is impossible to arrive at any other, conclusion than that the Ministerial prejudice in favour of the South,, which has been so long and so often displayed, sometimes with cynical contempt for public opinion north, of; Cook Strait, still influences the Govem-< ment in its allocation of public moneys to the great detriment,- we believe,■'of this' Dominion, as a whole. Auokland is by far the largest contributor to■' the public revenue, from which- interest -on. loans must be paid, and ths loans themselves repaid, yet only in tho North', of Auckland is any line being pushed in connection with the Auckland systeiju^'