Acquisition Of Kamo Colliery

Northern Advocate, 21 August 1948, Page 5

Acquisition Of Kamo Colliery

Two amounts totalling £94,600 are included in the departmental estimates in connection with the state's acquisition of the Kamo colliery.

The estimates for the year ended March 31 were tabled in the House of Representatives by the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash).

Inquiries made in Whangarei this morning (indicated that £90,000 of this total has been appropriated as part-payment of the total cost of the mine, announced by Mr Nash on August 10, to be £129,861. The further amount of £4OOO is also connected with the purchase. Provision is made for the spending of a preliminary amount of £IOO,OOO for the purchase of land for a combined Government and civic centre in Auckland.

A vote of £60,000 for the cost oi New Zealand’s representation at international conferences and the travelling and other expenses of delegations i; proposed. Last ye t qr £67,301 was spent compared with a vote of £35,030. IMMIGRATION HOSTELS There is a vote of £55.600 for the establishment of immigration hostels and another of £70.00 for operating costs. The Army Department's votes include £168.000 for building up stocks of 17-pounder and 25-pounder ammunition from the United Kingdom and Japan, and £35,000 -for the purchase of jeeps and trucks. The sum allowed by the Air Department for the purchase of aircraft is £71,500, compared with an expenditure of £680,829 last j?ear. Defence scientific research is expected to cost £15.500. The Department of Agriculture estimates spending £2003 on the destruction of wasps. Provision is made to spend £62,500 on the Tongariro National Park, compared with 30,000 last year. The Te Kauwhata Horticultural Station is expected to require £37,800, against £26,844 last year, as a result of heavier production costs. HOTEL TRAINING A grant of £SOO is proposed toward the expenses of a training school for hotel workers in Auckland. Last year £2OOO was provided, but only £283 was required owing to a delay in opening the school. A vote of £500,000 is included under the Public Works Account for the purchase of property in London for the High Commissioner’s Office. The Auckland harbour bridge project is kept alive by a vote of £30,000 half of which is to cover the cost ol approaches and investigations, and the other for compensating the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Co., Ltd. A similar vote made last year was not expended.