THE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11539, 26 November 1900, Page 6

THE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS.

WELCOME TO AUCKLAND.

SPEECH BY MR. HALL-JONES.

NORTHERN ROADS AND RAILWAYS. At the invitation of Mr. J. H. Witheford, M.H.R., a number of representative citizens met the Hon. W. Jones, Minister for Public Works, at dinner in the Star Hotel on Saturday evening, and tendered him a welcome to Auckland. Mr. Witheford presided, Mr. S. Vaile occupied the vice-chair, and there were also present :—The Hon. W. Jones, Mr. D. Goldie (Mayor of Auckland), Mr. F. Dillingham (United States Consul for New Zealand), Mr. M. Niccol and Mr. J. M. Brigham (representing the Harbour Board), Dr. McArthur (representing the Education Board), Professor A. W. P. Thomas (representing the University College), the Hon. A. J. Cadman, M.L.C., the Eon. Major Harris, M.L.C., Mr. G. Fowlds, M.H.R., Mr. F. Lawry, M.H.R., Mr. W. Berry (editor, New Zealand Herald), and Mr. Horneman, private secretary to the Minister for Public Works. The Chairman gave the tcast of "The Queen," which was loyally pledged.^ The toast of "The Minister for Public Works" was also given by Mr. Witheford. He said the representatives of public bodies present had asked him to accord Mr. HallJones a welcome to Auckland. He was sure Mr. Hall-Jones would feel gratified that at a few hours' notice, which was all that could be given, such a representative gathering had come forward to show their gratification at his visit, and to give him a kindly and cordial welcome to Auckland. The Minister for Public Works had not been in Auckland for three vears, but he had now come to see for himself the requirements of the North. It was a compliment to this part of the colony, that the Minister had selected it for his first visit after the session of Parliament. The meeting was a non-political one, and he thought the public representatives present were only doing Mr. HallJones the honour to which he was entitled in cordially welcoming him to the city which he had visited so soon after the rising of Parliament.. On behalf of Auckland he tendered Mr. Hall-Jones a hearty welcome to the city. . , The Minister for Public Works, m responding, said he was only doing his duty in visiting Auckland, and he took it as a great compliment to himself that he had been so cordially welcomed by the representative men of Auckland. He regretted that his last visit to Auckland was so long ago as July, 1897. He was not wholly responsible for that ; Circumstances had prevented him returning to Auckland earlier. When he last visited the city it was under somewhat disadvantageous circumstances. The weather was unfavourable, and he had to confess that he had not then the high opinion of Auckland which he had now formed. The feeling now pervading his mind was that the Government made a great mistake when they shifted the seat of Government from Auckland to Wellington. (Hear, hear.) He knew that was regarded as rank heresy by the people of Wellington, but he was bound to say that Auckland was one of the most beautiful towns in New Zealand, had the most enterprising men in New Zealand, and thoroughly deserved the great progress which had been made since his visit three years ago. Everywhere he went he saw marks of progress. Building improvements had been 'going on in every direction, and going up the Kaipara line on the previous day he noted that every acre of land had been improved since he saw it in 1897. The progress of those three years had been wonderful. It was a marvellous performance when they considered that all the buildings, and all the roads and railways had been the work of the last 60 years. They had shown progress, which, taken as a whole, no other part of the world could equal. They often complained in New Zealand of the want of communication, and of the disadvantages they laboured under, as compared with the Old Country. But there was no comparison ; there could be no comparison with the conveniences of the Old Country, which were the work of centuries. It was a grave mistake to compare the public debt of "New Zealand with the public debt of the Old Country. Had that debt not been incurred New Zealand could not have shown the progress that had been made in the last 60 years. New Zealand had made greater progress than any of the other colonies, and had come well up to the standard of the Old Country, which augured well for the future of New Zealand. In the other colonies progress approaching that of New Zealand, though not so great, had been made, thus strengthening the Empire as time went on. Some indication of the growing strength of the colonies had been given during the past year, when nearly every one of her dependencies rallied round the "Mother Country and sent men, who, in his opinion, did the best work of all those who went to South Africa, and had formed a bond which would draw the distant parts of the Empire together, and draw each colony closer to the heart the Empire. The question of federation with Australia had been under consideration in New Zealand. They should not rush hastily into that. The best men possible would be selected to sit on the Commission to go into the question, and he ventured to say that even those who differed from the present Government on political questions would not say a word against the selection. He had said that a closer relationship was being brought about between the colonies and the Mother Country, and he was delighted to see present Mr. Dillingham, who represented another branch of the English-speak-ing race. When some of Britain's soldiers were prisoners in Pretoria the Ambassador of the United States came forward and offered to see that they were provided with the necessaries and comforts of life. That was an indication of a feeling, which, as time passed on would grow into a federation of the English-speaking race, and the future of the world might practically be decided by that federation. They had all their part to play in the work of bringing about that federation, which would be for the advantage, not of one section, or even of the whole of the English-speaking people, but for the advantage of humanity at large. He had referred to his last visit to Auckland, and he had almost to apologise for not coming back sooner. The sickness of some.of his colleagues entailing harder work on the other Ministers, and close attention tc work in Wellington had prevented him from coming North earliei. He had to admit that he° ought to have been in Auckland to see the public works going on in the province, but he could say that he had paid every attention to the details of the work, including the main railways running north and south. THE NORTH AUCKLAND LINE. He had just visited the Helensville line, and found fair progress being made there, and the new section to Tahekeroa would be opened on December 1. The district engineer (Mr. Vickerman) had informed him that he got a shock when he saw in the Herald that the Minister for Public Works had announced that the section to Mr. Burns' farm, at Ahuroa, would be open in 12 months. Mr. Vickerman said it could not be done, but he (the Minister) gave him what is commonly known as the straight tip, and said, " It has got to be done," and he believed Mr. Vickerman would do it. The impression had been got abroad that the sum voted for the North Auckland railway was £15,000; it was really £30,000, divided between the Helensville section and the Whangarei-Kawakawa section, which would eventually fit ink each other. He knew the interest of the people of Auckland was largely centred in the completion t of the work through the Kaipara Flats. He assured them that work would receive the attention it deserved, and he ventured to say that as time went on there would be little complaint to be made with regard to the progress of the work. THE MAIN TRUNK LINE. The Main Trunk line must, of course, tak* some years to complete. No reasonable man would undertake to complete the work in less than the time mentioned in the Public Work- Statement, viz., four years, without immensely increasing the cost. Hence he fixed upon four years, and told his colleagues what money he would require foi the first year's work. The sum he asked for was put on the Public Works Estimates, ard that amount would enabk the line to be completed in four years, but

they must, of course, have large amounts for the remaining years, y They were making fair progress with the line. At present close on 800 men were employed. at the two ends. At the southern end the Makohine viaduct would take close upon a year to complete, and the northern end would be put in hand so as to fit in ; with the completion of the railway from Kawakawa to Stratford. i .The last-mentioned-railway .was one Aucklanders had a special" interest in. LIGHT RAILWAYS. The proposal was to construct the line oh a 2ft gauge, following the road as closely as possible. Of the first 40 miles from Stratford it would be possible to make 30 miles* of railway on the roadline, thus reducing the cost to the lowest possible point. The connection with the Main Trunk lino would be near Kawakawa, and from there he intended to go in about 30 miles with the engineer to see the nature of the country and its suitability for the 2ft or the 3ft 6in gauge. Whichever was found to be most suited to the needs of the district, and to the configuration of the country, would be adopted. He knew Mr. Cadman, while Minister for Railways, had not been an advocate of the 2ft gauge, but when he (Mr. Hall-Jones) considered that the adoption of the narrow gauge meant that two miles of railway could be made for the pries of one mile on the wider gauge, he thought it would be well to lay the narrow gauge in districts where the traffic would not be heavy, provided that provision was made for conversion to the broad gauge, as traffic increased. He was anxious to have this tried, because there were many parts of the colony where there was a scarcity of road metal; and where road metal was scarce, and settlers; had to put up with inferior roads, especially in the winter months, the best thing was to put down the iron road, and to put it down in the cheapest and quickest way possible, so that settlers could get their products to market, winter or summer. He had looked through some of the public buildings in Auckland, and he had to confess that in some cases improvement was required. Improvements were now being made in the interior of the post office, but something would have to be done to make the exterior more in keeping with what is required in a city like Auckland. He meant to have that done. The alterations being made inside would provide the necessary accommodation for some years to come, but he was afraid that eventually Auckland would have to be provided with a brand new post office. Some further accommodation was also required for the police, and that matter would receive at> tention. MINISTERS AND AUCKLAND. He had expressed regret that the seat of Government had been transferred from Auckland. Well, the next best thing to Parliament meeting in Auckland was for the Ministers to come to Auckland oftener. After the kindness he had received he intended to come oftener, and he would be glad, whenever he could, to meet the people of the district without regard to section or party, and discuss fairly and reasonably the requirements of the district. He intended to return in February, and see more of the interior than he had seen during the present visit.

EXPENDITURE IN NORTH AND SOUTH.

He had hoard a good deal about excessive expenditure in the South as compared with the North. He had to admit that many things in the North required attention, and he wanted them to infer, when he said a matter required attention, that it was to be attended to. But had there not been some mistake with regard to the disparity of expenditure in the two islands. They must remember that in the old provincial days large sums of money were spent in the Canterbury and Otago provinces. That was not done in Auckland. If they excepted the railways made by the provinces he admitted that the greatest sum had been .-spent in the South Island to the extent of some £1,700,000. But they had been making it up iapidlv lately. During the last 10 years over £1,000,000 had been spent in the Auckland province on railways and they had not touched £1.000,000 on railways in the South Island. That showed that the Government were doing their best to meet the requirements of Auckland. Settlement was going en rapidly in the province, and they hadl :o keep pace with the settlement. He had mentioned railways, but roads told an entirely different story. The proprrtion of expenditure as between the North Island and the South Island was about £3 in the North Island for every £1 in the South, and if they took roads and railways together they would find that the account was not so far out after all. There; was a balance in favour of the South Island, but. every year they were trying to liquidate that debt owing to the North Island, and he hoped this year, when the expenditure on roudk tnd railways was complete, the account wculd be about balanced. He had referred to Ihe value of the railways of the colony, and he had no hesitation in saying that if the colony wished to dispose of her railways she would have no difficulty in finding a syndicate in the Old Country to give £25,000.000, although the cost hadl only been £17,500,000, because as time went on the returns proved the railways of the colony to be a wonderful asset. THE PUBLIC DEBT. He had referred to the public debt, and he ventured to tou-h on the subject again, because people often got the impression that the colony was going to the bad very fast. The eolony was, in fact, actually improving its position. Excluding the money which was earning intarast in commercial undertakings such as under the Advances to Settlers, and; the Land "for Settlement Acts, the debt of tha colony was now less per head by some £5 oi £6 than it was 10 years ago. The present prosperity of the colony he considered to be largely owing to the Government entering upon these two departments. He again returned thanks for the courtesy extended to him since he came to Auckland, and assured those present that the interests of Auckland would be safe in his hands. No one, not even in Auckland, was mora earnest or n;ore anxious to see the Main Trunk line completed than he was. (Applause). Mr. Witheford expressed pleasure at the remarks made by tho Minister. He found) when in Wellington that Mr. Hall-Tones never grudged either time or trouble in attending to anything brought forward on behalf of ihe citizens of Auckland. He was satisfied that the Minister spoke in all sincerity, and that he would carry out his promises. Whether he gave Auckland a little more than he had promised would (Depend on bow the Auckland members acted in Wellington. In any case, speaking for Mr. Fowlds and himself, the two Auckland members press it, he could say they were determined to keep the Government up to their promises. ~ Mr. Hall-Jones proposed ''The Health ot Mr. and Mrs. Witheford." He said he would have to 1 ear in mind that he was to be kept up to the scratch by Mr. Witheford and Mi. Fowlds. They were both gentlemen be honoured and respected, and! both unfailing in their energy in looking after the interests of Auckland. Mr. Witheford, in returning thanks, said it was a misfortune that the Southern Ministry did not quite understand Auckland ; but he was in hopes that Mr. Hall-Jones would get a part of Government House set apart for a Ministerial residence, so that there would always be a .Minister in Auckland, or, if the present Ministers did not care to come North, they could appoint a Minister who would reside in Auckland, and attend to the wants of the North. At eight o'clock the party were driven in carriages to the Opera House, where they wtnessedl the performance of "La Poupee." ! I