BULLER RAILWAY

Grey River Argus, 27 April 1932, Page 5

BULLER RAILWAY

WORK FOR UNEMPLOYED Deputation to Minister NOT MUCH ENCOURAGEMENT. (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, April 26. Thp Government was asked to-day by a deputation representing influential interests in the Buller district to divert the unemployed workers who have been shifted from the construction of th e Westport-Inangahua railway back from relief works into the completion of this length, so that some return could be secured for the, money already spent, and great areas of coal and timber bearing land tapped. Th e deputation was arranged for the Prime Minister and Mr Coates, but Mr Coates did not attend. Mr H. H. Sterling was present. Mr Forbes promised consideration, but he gave little hope of action. The deputation was introduced by Mr H. E. Holland, Member for the District, who said that the deputation represented the Westport Borough Council, the Buller Progress League, and the Buller County Council. They desired to urge that the WestportInangahua section of the Buller Groge railway should again be put in hand and completed. The men formerly em ployed on the work had been transferred to relief works in other parts, and in some cases were engaged on work of an unproductive character. The line would represent a national asset.

Personally, said Mr Holland, he ■wanted to see the men employed on a living wage, and he put it to the Prime Minister that if standard wages w’ere paid, the only additional cost to the State would be the difference between the relief work rates and the standard rates. The deputation fully recognised that the Government had no power to recommence the work unless a recommendation to that effect was first made by th e Railway Board, but he contended that it should be possible to come to an arrangement with the Board. Failing that, the Government could alter the law. At the present moment th c material on the spot and the work already done was suffering depreciation, and the country was being involved in heavy losses in consequence.

Hon. W. H. Mclntyre said that he recognised that Mr Holland could not depart from the attitude that he had taken up all along in favour of standard wages, but he (Mr Mclntyre) pointed out that the men concerned were already on relief wages, and were doing work that was not of much economic value to New Zealand. If they were brought back to railway construction, work between Westport and Inangahua Junction, they would be in a far better position than was now the case, and, in addition, would be engaged in an undertaking that would be of real value to the Dominion. The Buller Gorge would not only provide coal freights, but there were immense timber and other resources that would be tapped, and which would provide substantial freight and other revenues.

Mr J. Menzies (Deputy-Mayor of Westport) emphasised the hardship imposed on the men and their families through their transfer to jobs in other parts of the district while their wives and families were left in the Gorge. They had to keep two homes going, whereas if they were brought back on to the construction of the line, something would be shown for the expenditure now being incurred. He asked that the men be returned to the line, and paid standard rates. Failing this, he would agree to accept relief rates, which, he considered, would give the Government an exceptionally cheap railway line. Already approximately £600,000 had been spent on the line, and the State would have to pay interest charges on this. In any case, he believed the line should pay working expenses, which would justify the extra £320,000 which, the Board said, would be required to complete it. Mr V. Llewellyn, of the Buller Progress League, said that there were 75 houses for married men and 218 single men’s huts on the construction works, but the men who went to the relief camps were living in tents, while their families remained on the Gorge construction. He referred to the Cascade Creek bridge, which, he said, had already absorbed £2,500 for a temporary structure. The material for the bridge was on the job, and the cylinders had been driven to some extent, showing that it was the ultimate Intention to complete it. Why not finish it now, he asked, because if the present affair were left, it would deteriorate, and the whole cost would have to bo. duplicated. Further on, there were the vast timber areas beyond Tiroroa, and coal-bearing land all over the district.' There was sufficient work in excavation such as filling, to keep unskilled labour going for many months. The country and the district were losing thousands annually bv non-access to these areas.

PREMIER’S REPLY. Mr Forbes said that he recognised that it would be an advantage to have the men continue their occupation on the spot where their wives and families were domiciled. It had to be faced, however, that it was impossible to borrow money for railway cpnstruction now. “I know that unfinished work of this sort looks something like an unfinished house,” Mr Forbes said. “I have seen houses with the roof left off because money had run out. That is the position with this line. If the line is finished, we have to face the possibility of driving the last spike and then abandoning the line altogether, because, if the running cost is too great, it cannot be continued, unless the public purse is inexhaustable. ” He had been assured that

there was ample trade for this line, but he did not know of any deputation waiting upon a Minister that did not claim a great deal of trade for its line. Yet, when the railway was finished, it frequently occurred that the district interests immediately made arrangements for motor lorries to carry its stuff. Mr Holland: “You have your own farming districts in mind, perhaps!” Mr Forbes: “I have in mind a district in which a dairy company was most prominent in advocating a line, and when the line was constructed, that company held a ballot to see whether its stuff should be sent by rail oi by sea. They carried the ballot in favour of the sea, and the railway did not get the business. These things make you feel you have been let down.’ ’ Mr Menzies: “In this case, It is minerals, which cannot be carried by any other way than by rail. It would not pay to send coal or timber to the waterfront so far as the South Island supply is concerned.’’ Mr Holland: “For outside trade the railway is the feeder to the port.” Mr Llewellyn: “If the railway were completed, 75 per cent, of the goods now sent through the port to South Island places would go by rail.” Mr Sterling: “That can be doubted.” i Mr Forbes said that it was a ques-; tion whether the line would be a sink for further money. Mr Holland said that the Government would have to consider reducing the capital expenditure if the line were finished. Forbes: “It is a question of paying interest on the full cost of construction. So far as branch lines are concerned, if they pay working expenses without any interest, they are kept going; but you could not do this with new lines. The Government could not announce to the people from whom it hoped to borrow money that it intended to do this. Putting money into railway construction is a thing of the | past. People will not lend money for that purpose now, as the railways a 1! the world over are in difficulties.” Mr Llewellyn: “If you used money from the unemployment fund, there would be no necessity for a loan.” Mr Holland said the Government would have to pay interest charges on the money already spent on the line, so that the only expenditure that would justify the Government refusing to complete it was the charge on the extra £320.000 estimated as the money required to complete the line. If the line were not completed, the State would have to bear a great annual loss on what had already been done.

Mr Forbes: “If the optimism of deputations regarding the earnings of railway lines could be transferred to the figures, the Railways Department would be a flourishing concern.” Mr Menzies: “Our other line pays. It has never been a charge on the country. ’ ’

Mr Forbes said that the Government had slowed down on hydro and other construction works, and railways were governed also by finance. Hp promised to investigate the representations made.