THE HUTT ROAD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1222, 2 September 1911, Page 7

THE HUTT ROAD.

HUGE EXPENDITURE. LOCAL BODIES DISMAYED. DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT. GOVERNMENT BILL KEENLY CRITICISED.

In tho House of Representatives yesterday tho Hon.. J. A. Millar, Minister for Railways, in moving tho second readiifg of tho Ilutt Railway and Road Improvement Bill, said that- under tho principal Act (1903) tho Wellington City Council, the Onslow Borough Council, the Hutt County Council, the Petono Borough Council, and tho Lower Hutt Borough Council wero to be charged with the cost of making tho Hutt-Wellington road, such cost to bo allocated among them by a commission. The road and railway works were carried out by tho Railway Department. Sinco tho Act was passed five newlocal authorities had been constituted in areas taken from tho Hutt County, namely, the Upper Hutt Town Board, Eastbourne Borough Council, Miramar Borough Council, Jolinsonville Town Board, and ilakara County Council. The object of the Bill was to make these bodies contributors to tho cost of tho road. Mr. Massey Hits Out. Mr. W. F. Massey, Leader of tho Opposition, said: "This work aftords one of tho worst instances of the want of thorough business management by Government Departments • that wo can possibly imagine. I do not blamo tho present Minister for lailways, because tho work was'commenced years before he took up his present position. The then Mimstor for Railways asked Parliament for i! 100,COO for the purposes of straighte.iing the Hutt line and improving tho Hutt ltoail. Wo wera then informed that would bo sufficient to complete the work, and that in all probability sufficient land would be reclaimed to recoup the State for the expenditure. Parliament agreed to the request, and tho money .was expended. Then the Minister canio back and asked for another 000, telling us that though the work was not nearly completed thp second appropriation would be sufficient. A worlc of this kind is liko a. house. When it has heen started it must T>e finished at whatever cc«t, so tho money . was given. l'"or the third, time the Minister came back with exactly the same' story, and for the third time Parliament voted JBIOO.OOO. Attention was called to the fact that evidently something was wrong with "tho calculations and the cost, and last year the. present Minister asked for and was given .£35,000 to finish tho work. Altogether Parliament has appropriated •iE335,000 for a work which was to cost only £100,000, and now there is very little chance of getting anything back from tho reclamation, because it will be required for railway purposes." Mr. Massey also said that the duplication of the DunedinMosgiel railway was another instar.co of wasteful mismanagement. The Minister of the'day asked for ,£130,000 to complete the work, but half a million had been 6pent and it was not finished yet. Mr. Millar said only iC330,000 had been appropriated for tho Diniedin-Mosgiel line. Mi\ 'Massey added that' it was not remarkable that there were complaints from all parts of tho Dominion regarding tho waste of public money. Attitude of Local Bodies. Mr. J. P. Luke (Wellington Suburbs) read the following extract lrom the Hansard report of Sir Joseph Ward's speech in moving tho second reading of. the Hutt Railway ' Improvement-.Bill, -in "It is proposed to spend not more than' .£25,000 a year. The total'amount of .tho authority ivo ask for is .£IOO,OOO. Tho reclamation of the land and tho disposal of tho same will make up tho balance, and I would not be surprised to find, after it is finally completed, that the cost to the colony will be practically 'nothing on account of tho proceeds from tho sale of tho land reclaimed. . . . The total amount asked for the work is, as I have already Eaid, ,£IOO,OOO, to bo expended at the rato of .£25,000 a year. We anticipate that we shall get considerable revenue from the land that will not bo required by the Department by putting it on tho market from time to time.' Mr. Luko said he did not.see'much land there, but he 'thought tho Government should get an estimate of the revenue from the land before going to the local' authorities for the money. Those bodies were never consulted about tho making of tho new Toad. . He was sorry that Jlr. Wilford, who had .presided at a conference of tho local bodies recently, was away from Wellington by reason of' ill-health, but- he (Mr. Luke) would oppose some' portions of the Bill on behalf of the local bodies which ho represented. Before the principal Act was passed tho upkeep of the Toad was undertaken by Wellington city and the adjacent boroughs, and had they remade the road, it would not have cost •£160,009. The Minister apparently had ?ot yet got the cost of tho road. Mr. Millar: Approximately .£IOO,OOO. Mr. Luke said tho Wellington City Council made chain-wide roads, with two sidewalks, ■ for .£BS io .£95 a. chain, yet this road, a. few feet wider,'.had cost £27a a'chain. There might have been more filling than in some of the city roads, but if the road had been more expensive owing to tho railway being made besido it, that should bo allowed for. Ho had been a member of tho City Council for many years, and he knew no agreement between tho Government and the local bodies concerning tho new road. The proposed charge upon tho local bodies would seriously hamper their finances and retard their progress. Somo of the boroughs required to undertake drainage, water supply, and other works needed for the health of tho people. Ho agreed that tho .road was a good one. | Mr. F. M. B. Fisher (Wellington Central)' said the road was worth paying, but they wanted particularly to know whether the £100,000 stat:d to be tho cost of the road would include a penny, that shonld be chargeable to the railway construction. Mr. Millar: The Commission will have full information. "Very Curious." Mr. Fisher said he had vainly tried to ascertain what was the attitude of the City Council in tho matter. Tho Mayor of Wellington' was out of town, and no othor local member apparently knew what was the attitude of tho City Council, nor. did they know n single word of what transpired at tho recent conference. He had just been handed a letter from the Town Clerk of Wellington to the member for Waitaki (Sir W. J. Stward) as follows:— "The-Mayor has asked me to tell yon that ho does not oppose the passage of the above Bill. No doubt you will understand the matter." "It is very curious,", continued Mr. Fisher, "that the Mayor should communicate with the member for Waitaki, and not with any local member." A member suggested that "the above Bill" in tho letter must mean one of Sir William Steward's Bills. Mr. Fisher: No. It is headed, "Wel-lin-gton-llutt Improvement Bill." I suppose the City Council is satisfied with tho Bill. Mr. W. H. Field (Otaki) said tho local bodies had never expected to bo mado liable, for so great an expenditure. Th? Minister might be within his strict rights, but he should not press them. Tho road was an arterial road, and part at least Df the cost should bo homo by tho Government. The road was a much better one tlian was needed by (he local people. He supported the petition of tho Hutt County for exemption from contributing to' tho enormous cost of this Toad. Was any of tho money wasted? Ho could not say that it was. Mr. Buchanan: Any amount was wasted. Mr. Field said that, if so, the Government was much to blamo. He had been informed that the taking of rocks from the shore at Paekakariki for this work had left tho coast there exposed to tho breakers, and that had had to bo remedied. The settlers of the Ilutt County used the road very little. Tho Bill ought to go to a- Select Committee. He hoped the railway yard at Thorndnn, which wns an eyesore, would bo removed to the roplainied land. If tho local bodies enter-

Ed into any obligation many years ago i concerning this road, they certainly never i contemplated an expenditure of ,£IOO,OOO. c Mr. Iferdman (Wellington North) hoped I the Minister would be nblo to gi"° some < indication as to the date when the new j Wellington railway station would bo taken I in hand. Tho whole affair of the Hutt ( Road was a shocking indication of the ( loose and perfunctory way in which tho Government sometimes entered into such c undertakings. Before tho work was be- ; gnn, wero tho local bodies given to under- : stand that the road would cost .£IOO,OOO, or wero thev given to understand that' tho ; road, the railway, and the reclamation al- ; together would cost .£100,000? no believed tho Wellington City Council was never shown a plan of tho work. Wero t'ho local bodies shown places and specifications? He hoped tho Minister would tell them where all the money had gone. Ho thought it would bo right for the local bodies to pay a fair share of the cost. _ Mr. W. T. Jennings (Tauniarumu) said that tho road wns formerly in such a bad stato that tho local todies would have gladly agreed to an expenditure a quarter of a million. In some districts local bodies were made to contribute to works 50 miles away, and hero were wealthy local bodies trying to get out of contributing to a road close by them. (Dissent from Air. Luke and others.) i Mr. E. A. Wright (Wellington like some previous speakers, referred to the Hansard report of Sir Joseph Wards speech in 1003 as to the estimated cost of tho ' whole road and railway work bejnfj only *100,000. He (Mr. Wright) supposed the Railway Department' must be charging the taking of spoil from the hillsides, which would have been required in any case for the railway work. A huge blunder had been made by somebody and the local bodies were asked to foot the Bill. One resident had told him it would double his rates. The road shonld be regarded as a Dominion road. The local bodies merely wanted a sufficient road for local purposes—not an Appian way. To be charged with this great' sum was enough to make the Wellington people take to drink'. The Mayor and the Council. Mr. D. M'Larcri (Wellington _ East) speaking as a City Councillor, said he knew of no written agreement between tho Government and the local bodies as to t'ho making of the road. In reference to recent developments, no report had been presented to the City Council. Jlr. Wilford (whoso absence on account of illness ho sincerely Tegretted) had assumed the full responsibility. State should contribute largely to tho expenditure as the road was of national importance. Mr. W. H. Berries # (Tauranga) said that those interested in the back-blocks felt their blood boil when they found such great sums of money being spent unnecessarily at the capital city. This was not the only instanco of underestimation of the cost of railway works. Tho Auckland duplication was estimated to cost .£75,000, and had cost £144,000. Ho asked for full particulars about the cost of the Wollington-Hutt work. He remembered that when the Bill was brought down there was much objection to tho sum of ,£IOO,OOO, and had tlio Government stated the cost would bo .£335,00(1, lie was suro the money would never have been granted. Information which Ministers must have had at that time was concealed from the House. It was impossible to Jwlieve that the engineers would underestimate the cost to such an extent. There must have been a want of candour on the part of the Ministers. It had been a common observation that the work was being done by tho Government stroke." A contractor would have done the work much cheaper, and probably' paid higher wages. The Premier's Defence. Sir Joseph Ward accused Mr. Hemes of misrepresentation in trying to make the back-blocks settlers behove that tho duplication work meant fewer roads lor the back-blocks. All the members know that not a penny of the money came out of the Public Works lund I he money was raised under a special Act quito outside that. fund. - Tho hon. membe.i used to misrepresent in the same way about expenditure at Rotorua. Mr. Herries: Didn't you have to pull up tho drains there? Sir Joseph Ward then turned his attention to the Wellington members. Members for other districts did not combino liko them to foist upon the country an expenditure that should be borne by tho district. Tho iocal people "jd imitated years ago for a good road fiom W'eUin'ton to the Hutt for their own benefit. The road sorved a local population of about 100,000. ' Mr. Luko:'Ninety-sis thousand . Sir Josenh Ward denied having sa d that the railway and road work would cost only .£IOO,OOO. A fifth standard schoolboy would know that the thing was impossible, considering what work really included. Mr. Massey: Didn't you, ray. so? Sir-Joseph Ward: "I said nothing of the kind." A 'full vote on such works was never taken in 4he first place, the duplication of the railway and the widening and straightening of the Hutt Road,'which could not previously carry the traffic, were- necessary works. Iho engineers who' carried out the work were somo of the best qualified men in tho country. Yet Mr. Herries had accused them of being parties to malingering, and had cast a slur on thorn. The interest on the cost of the road would be only .EJ-000 a rear, arid it was distressing to find the local members making this ad miseiicordiam appeal to their fellow members. Mr. Luke said the Priino Minister had misrepresented him. He "had made it clear that afternoon that lie would not support anv attempt to relieve any ,of tho local bodies of their just'liabilities at the expense of the Consolidated Fund. The Prime Minister again denied that he lia-d ever said. that ,£IOO,OOO would cover tho whole of the cost of the work. Mr. Massey: Tour colleague said so. Sir Joseph Ward said he had never at any timo started that tho work was going to cost £100,000 only. Were the Local Bodies Told? Mr. Herdmari: Were the local bodies ever told that tho work would cost .£330,000 ? Sir Joseph Ward: You can got your information in your own way. Mr.-A. S. Malcolm (Clutha) remarkod that they had had a great deal of sound and fury from tho hon. gentleman. It was a caso of "when you have no case, make a noise." Tho way in which ho had repudiated tho statement of his colleaguo in tho Upper Houso was a most shabby thing. The Prime Minister: Your opinion is of no consequence. Mr. Malcolm continued that when a colleague spoko for another Minister in the "Upper Houso in this way he must be supplied with a statement. Tho Prime Minister interjected that this was nonsense. In nine cases out of ton ho (the colleague) got nothing al all. Mr. Malcolm said tho hon. gentleman was talking nonsense. In that caso, the colleaguo must' speak from nothing at all. Ho could not accept that. Mr. J. Stallworthy (h'aipaTa) remarked that' it was plain from tho telegram that had come that afternoon that tho Wellington City Council was prepared to shoulder the burden of the cost of making tho Hutt lioad. It was very proper that thoy should. Mr. W. Frasor (Walcaupu) considered that if information had been afforded tho Houso as to why tho cost of this Toad shonld be so much greater, probably there would not have been so much discussion that afternoon and evening. He did net know that t'ho House had over had any detailed information on the subject. Mr. Millar's Reply. The Hon. J. A. Millar, in reply, said that during tho debate Mr. Wright had wholly, and other members partially, repudiated an agreement between tho Government and t'ho local bodies. In -tho speech which had been quoted, the Prime Minister had been speaking of the rail--1 way, not tho road, as members lyould have seen if they had read tho wholo i speech. Tho Bill of that year was the Ilutt Railway—not Itailway and RoadBill. Tho improvement of tho road had < been made the subject of representations ■ to the Government- by local members and i authorities from time to time sinco 1887. 1 The Government had declined to take over tho road. The result was that in 1803 the i local bodies themselves passed a Bill. Itwas law to-day. Mo sum was named at ■ all. It provided an unlimited authority, i Tho member for Wellington Central had accused the Government' of saying I originally that tho work would i only cost ,£IOO.OOO, whereas it had • actually cost .£330,000. The fact's wore that ■ tho original work had been greatly in- ; creased. The Government had not intend- [ ed txi touch the road at all when they > brought in the Ilutt Itailway liill. The . cost ot' the road was as nearly as possible . £100,000. Land purchased had cost .£IO.OOO

and the construction of the rn.nl ,£90,000. It was a totally different work from tiia originally intended. It had been F , j. that tho old Mnnawntu Company had dono their reclamation work at sixpence per yard. As a matter of fact it co.-.r them Is. 3d. per yard. Tho averngo cost of reclamation in Wellington under lavourable circumstances was Is. Cd. per yard. The Hutt Railway reclamation had wen carried out at Is. Gd. per yard. llus was in comparison with local bodies and it was done not by co-operative labour, but by day labour. Every item of expenditure on the work would bo scrutinised by tho Commissioner. A meinoer had mentioned the stone facing of tho embankment. .Not one penny of tho expenditure upon this work would be charged to the road. Tho Government had done the work it had undertaken to do and the local bodies would have to .foot the Bill. It had been suggested that this road should be paid for as a Dominion road. Ho would like to know what' part of the Dominion ever had .£IOO,OOO spent on a road for it and had called it a Dominion road. Theso local bodies would liavo to pay every penny. Mr. Massey: They have not dono it yet. The Minister said they would have to. Ife know that the local bodies had been advised to got tho best legal advico in Wellington and contest the matter. They could fool away money in that way if they liked, but'they would have to pay. The Government had done its part of the work, and it wanted its money. It was not proposed to hurry tho local bodies, but interest was being paid out of the taxpayers' money, and they were not going to go on indefinitely paying that interest. The Commissioner would allocate the cost of the road to each local body. Because he had brought in this Bill., which only so\ight to retain the liability of local bodies which were part of the original district, some members said they should not -be brought in. He did not think the House would stand that. If anyone suggested that anything would be debited to the road which ought to be charged to the railway they were mistaken. The Wellington railway station would be started in due time, and then, of course, the Government would be accused of unnecessary expenditure. He could not hold over the Bill any longer. Mr. Field said tho original agreement amongst the local bodies for tlie maintenance of the road referred only to the portion within the Borough of Onslow. Mr. Wright denied that he had advocated repudiation. Ho had said that tho State and the local bodies should each pay a fair share. Tho second reading was carried on tho voices.