WAIAU RAILWAY

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 72, 26 March 1914, Page 2

WAIAU RAILWAY

THE GOVERNMENT ATTITUDE. GREAT DISSATISFACTION EX- ! PRESSED. LEAGUE DEPUTATION TO MINISTER. A meeting "of the committee of the Waj.au Railway League was held on I Saturday for the purpose of considering the reply of the Hon: R.H. Rhodes to the deputation which, waited on him in connection with the commencement of the work. The chairman. (Mr K. Pettigrew) said that, the reply of Mr Rhodes couldl not be considered at all satis- | factory. .The Minister's .reply was in effect that even though the finan- | cial year had practically ended he knew nothing of the Government's intentions regarding the line, in spite 6f the fact that the secretary had telegraphed to the. P.rime Minister and the Minister for Public Works asking for a definite pronouncement on the occasion of Mr Rhodes's visit. He f referaed .to, the ,Hon. James Allen's rfeply-to'Sir Joseph - Ward's eondemnation?.ofl rith<&- miserable inadequacy of the vote of £5000 during, .the debate on *he.Public-Works Statement last, .session, when Mr Allen had asked, '"What more do they want than £5000 for three months' work?" indicating to the settlers and the public that the £5000 would be spent between January 1 and March 31, and that work at the. same' .ratio would be continued until' next Statement came down. He considered that the time had gone by for mincing matters, and that they should go direct to the Minister for Public Works' and demand .an explanation. ' •■:..' Mr Riualdi considered that Mi'

Eraser's word would stand anywhere in the Dominion, and he thought the broken trust must be due :to pressure from the Minister for Finance.

Mr Foster said that : either Mr! Rhodes 'was bluffing" -them, and ! treating them like children; or else j he had not been taken into the oonfi- i deuce of his chief and colleagues and was similarly treated as a child by his fellow Ministers. His xown opinion was. that Mr Rhodes knew a great deal more than he told them. In dealing with the delay of construction, Mr loster said he had been Connected with surveying in the past, and if a private syndicate had the construction of the line ten weeks would hay« sufficed to complete the survey, prepare contracts and have them accepted and the work commenced. It was ridiculous to suppose that the Government engineers were such incompetents that it took a year to survey the line and get contracts out. The engineers were merely acting on. instructions from headquarters in holding back the work. Mr Sunckell urged that while it was all very well to have a recital "of what the Government had not done, it would be better to get to work and find out its intentions for the future, and he supported the president's suggestion that Mr Fraser should be applied to at the earliest opportunity. Mr W. Gale said that while the Minister had voted £5000 and the whole country had accepted his promise that it would be spent, the fact remained that the end of the year was reached and that £5000 was still in the hands of the Colonial Treasurer. Had the Government been sincere it would have surveyed a length of five miles and spent the amount voted by now. With regard to Mr Rhodes's statement that the turning of the first sod was a. matter of form and indicated nothing, his experience had been that it meant a continuation of -sod-turning until the railway was complete. Mr Rhodes's reply was an insult to .their intelligence. He moved j "That a deputation be sent to Mir Fraser, at the earliest opportunity." Mr 'Suhekell seconded^the motion and urged that the deputation should ba-sent at once. , '

The motion was carried unanimousr ly, and the secretary was .instructed to send the following telegram to the Minister efop|^pfe;W'Orks:.' ■>' 'That in view o€v fc}^^^tte;mely/qinsatds:f actory natua-e of^the Hon. R. H. Rhodes's reply to the deputation which waited on him at Waiau on Saturday, March 14, regarding the commencement of the Culverden^Waiau line, the 'Railway League>?^skS%du: 'tb receive a deputation from its executive. Will you kindly advise me whether you will bein diristchurch during the next week; or ten daj-s. If not, will you receive; a_ deputation at Wellington on Thursday or Friday this week." The president, vice-president and secretary were appointed: to carry out* the arrangements. [Interviewed in Christchureh on Saturday the Minister for Public Works (Hon. W. Fraser), said, reg&rd'ing the Culverden-Waiau railway, that instructions had been given to prepare plans and specifications for the small -contracts. When they were ready the contracts' would be advertised and the work put in hand. He had been away for three weeks, so could not speak more, definitely on the. matter.]