MINISTER & EXPERT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 83, 9 April 1910, Page 9

MINISTER & EXPERT.

THE HON. R. M'KENZIE'S METHODS. A PECULIAR EPISODE. It lias been said by Mr. Mander, member for Marsden, that the Hon. R. M'Kenzie' has eet his own opinion against tho verdict of expert engineers in the selection of a route for the North Auckland Railway. This statement can bo read with interest, alongside an extract from the evidence taken by a committee of the House of Representatives on the Tramways Amendment Bill, which was eventually dropped, temporarily. Among the witnesses was Mr. R. W. Holmes, Engineer-in-Chief to the Public Works Department. He was one of the members of a Royal Commission which enquired into tho working of the Auckland system about eighteen months ago. Among those who put. questions to Mr. Holmes at a sitting of the committee on 22nd December last year was the Hon. R. M'Kenzie. Mr. M'Kenzie : Thero was a statement made here last jiight that you gave the engineer or manager of the Auckland Tramway Company to understand that you disapproved of the air brakes ? Mr. Holmee : I disapproved of tiio air brake- as a substitute for the track brake. Mr. M'Kenzie : But you do not disapprove of it if they are combined 7 Mr. Holmes : I do not disapprove of the air as an additional means for working the wheel-brake. Mr. M'Kenzie : Do you know whether a letter was sent from the department to the company, giving them an option of three brakes, which included the magnetic and the air brake* Mr. Holmes : No, I do not think so. The department would nab give them the option of using the air-brake acting on tho wheels only, instead of such a brake as the magnetic brake. Mt. M'Kenzie : Do you know if they, have applied to the department to institute a system of brakes ? Mr. Holmes : The only application we have had was to apply two sets of the Christenson brake as an experiment. Mr. M'Kenzie : But not to apply other Bets of brakes to their cars? Mr. Holmes : No. Mr. M'Kenzie : Do you know if the • motormen in New Zealand prefer the air brake to the" magnetic brake ? Mr. Holmes : They arc two totally different brakes ; they are not comparable with oi\e another. Mr. M'Kenzie : But in Auckland there aro a larpc number of motormen who have been working on the air brake in Sydney and Melbourne, and have you ever had anything to do with the union or witb the men themselves on the subject? Mr. Holmes : No, I havo not. Mr. M'Kenzie : Supposing I were to appoint an engineer to examine these brakes — say, an engineer in Auckland — do you think any of our engineers would be likely to refuse to recommend it if the department wanted to give the company the option of putting air brakes in? Mr. Holmes ! I do not fcnow the views of my subordinates, but. of course, they woulcf report/ to me, and I should be the final judge, and I should most decidedly object. Mr. M'Kenaie : And supposing I camo in and appcinlcd »n engineer to decide altogether; ho would have the power to approve, would he not? Mr. Holmes : I presume so. Mr. M'Kenzie : l r ou are only nominated by the Minister to carry out what a Minister thinks proper? Mr. Holmes : Yes, if within the provisions of the Tramways and Public Works Acts. Mr. M'Kenzie : And if the Minister thinks the air brake is as good a system as any other brake ho could ask another engineer to decide? Mr. Holmes : Yes, he has that power. Mr. M'Kenzie : You had no power to, give the management of the Auckland Tramway Company to understand in any shape or form that the department objected to the air brake being installed 1 Mr. Holmes : Not from that point of view. Mr. M'Kenzie : Mr. Walklate told the committee that that occurred in conversation in Auckland. Tho business of the department Is not conducted by way of conversation, is it ? Mr. Holmes : No, but points are often discussed before being put in writing. This interesting evidence appears in a printed report presented to Parliament on 22nd December. Subsequently another commission (Professor Scott, of Christchurch, and Mr. A. L. Beattie, Chief Locomotive Engineer) was appointed to report on tho Auckland tramway brake question.