ROADS AND RAILWAYS

Northern Advocate, 4 October 1930, Page 6

ROADS AND RAILWAYS

TWO BIG FACTORS

EXPENDITURE MOUNTING,

PERMANENT HIGHWAYS.

AV E LLIN G TON, Fr id ay,

In presenting the Public Works Statement to the House today the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. W. B. Taverner, said the session had emphasised features in public, finance and in the social .condition of a large section of the people which must he taken into consideration in framing a statement for presentation, to the •House. Perhaps the most important •from the point of view of a programme of- expenditure-on -public- works wore: ; (|). The -fact that a. Select, Committee has- been appointed to inquire into and consider the position respecting railways under construction; and (2) The fact that unemployment, as revealed by the. statistics of registiaition, has increased rather than decreased.

Nearly Eight Million. . Public, works expenditure' had steadily increased, he said. During the last ■financial year the total expenditure reached £7,781,000. The. expenditure from 1882 (to 1020 —a. period -of 38 years —had varied round about £2 per head of population. Since that date it had increased, and in the two years immediately following 1920 it had reached £5 .10/. -Since then it had averaged nearly £5. ■

“Tbo necessity of paying due regard to the economic aspect of the various works proposed is most necessary, and the ability of those works to produce an adequate return or to assist in increasing production must be carefully reviewed,” declared Mr Taverner.

“A continued programme of expenditure of borrowed money on services that are not likely to prove productive will probably in the end result in a serious condition in the public finances of the Dominion. In respect to external debt, where the interest goes out of the country, it is essential that for the expenditure of moneys

borrowed abroad, the .Dominion should show such increased development and productive rapacity for the creation of additional taxable wealth that the intwrest payments will not be found burdensome, although they may require to be met partly out of taxation.

LpSs on Railways,

“Tlu* estimated cost of railways under const rucition, including cost to the eud of June next, and the estimated total annual loss thereon is as follows: —Estimated total expenditure when completed £111,001,000, estimated total annual loss £737,553. ’’ “it is not necessary to stress the fact (that the working railways are finding it increasingly diflicnlt to carry additional burdens,” said the Manistee. “I desire to -state the urgent necessity that exists for a complete revaluation of the lines under construction in regard, inter ali, to community value for increased settlement, increased .production, and those! services to the public .which are not! easy to assess in terms of money, it! unit be admitted that while certain' factors in it he problem arc definicly assessable there arc others of a tangible character that may be grouped under the heading- of services and pubvenieuces, which in prosperous times do no(t impress the public mind but are serious items in the balance sheet during periods of depression. I am convinced that such, an investigation should be our first duty, and that; upon the conclusions readied a. programme of railway construction must 1 bo largely controlled. | “In regard to the high cost of many of the lines at present under construction, it should bp remembered (that, as in the case of roads, the lines that presented no great engineering difficulties were built years ago, while those remaining are, for the most part, through difficult country, and have - to be constructed at an enormously increased cost, and the modern standard is much higher.”

Unemployment Relief.

The Mi-msiter said he was not nu-i mindful of the important part played I by the Department’s railways activi-j ties iu regard to unemployment. There! were at present 3848 men so occupied.

and the amount disbursed in. wages 1 during the financial year ended March! 31, .1030, was £750,000 to which, of!

course, must be added the east of materials, the overhead charges, con-

sisting - of supervision, interest, emit and depreciation of pinnl. and other items which increased the annual disbursement by a further £7011,000.

“It is obvious that any curtail meat that Parliament may find it ne

ecssary to impose will throw men out

of wou-k, ami add to the •already considerable number of unemployed,” declared Mr Taverner.

The Minister said the unemploy meant position had received close at tention.

Most of the relief works in hand, apart from the operations of the Forestry Department, was road con-strm-ition.

For Railway Construction. A sum amounting to £I,OOO, (100 has ■.been made available by the Minister for provision for railway construction. “It mnSit be patent that alternative measures aiming to keep men. in employment or to absorb a. number of men now out. of employment must take time to '■■mature and to be put into operation, whether these take the form of the Unemployment Bill or •eoncented efforts in regard to land de-

velopment, increasing the 'area, of (State forest plantations, providing additional -public buildings, irrigation, and grade easements on open railwav lines.

Help for Backblocks, “Tile, growing expenditure as far as arterial roads arc concerned, the ever-increasing - mileage of permanent construction laid down, has to some extent -operated disadvantagoously in regard to the baekblo-eks settler. The full use of the main, roads is not reached until a. reasonably adequate measure of assistance as given to those who are developing the ontly-

ing areas, and who iu many cases have had to put up with little more than bullock tracks as their .means of

j communication. The question of asj si-stance to the backblocks settlers in ■ the way of improved road access, 1 which was the subject of special | mention by my predecessor in his • Public Works statement of last year, j has bad my sympathetic support, and ain-ango incuts have been made this

j year for the vote providing for access ■; to outlying districts to be materially increased.”