THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 1920. ISOLATED RAILWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17497, 15 June 1920, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 1920. ISOLATED RAILWAYS.

'The progress of the East Coast railway has been so vexatiously slow that it is gratifying to learn that the railhead will probably reach the Whakatano River this year. This advance, small in itself, will be of interest chiefly because of the new emphasis it lay 3 on the case for closing the gaps in tho East Coast railway system. Tho line is now being constructed oyer easy country and* there are no considerable engineering difficulties as far as Opotiki. Few railways in the world cross in one short section such amazingly fertile stretches as the Rangitaiki Plain and the Whakatane Valley. When it is added that every mile of steel now laid is "helping to open up the Urcwera Country—the northern face of which lies to the East Coast railway— forging of the Matata-Opotiki link appears as a work of the most pressing urgency. The length of the railway route from -Waihi to Opotiki is approximately 130 miles, but before this important addition can be made to the North Island system it will' bo necessary to close the Tauranga gap ; Why this gap has been permitted to persist so long in face of the fact that it isolates all the construction east of Tauranga is no easier to explain than other vagaries of the Public Works Department. More than seven years have passed since Sir Joseph Ward turned the first sod of the Waihi-Tauranga line. The work has twice been needlessly interrupted and at no time has it been conducted on an adequate scale. Parliament has voted altogether £90,000 for this section, but considerably less than half of this has been spent. Tho perpetuation of the gap is therefore directly'attributable to Ministerial indifference and Since Mr, Coates gives evidence of a refreshingly sound conception'of public works it is to be hoped he will realise that the. construction of the bridge across Tauranga harbour and the completion of tho aihi-Tau-ranga section have first claim on whatever sum may be allocated to the East Coast railway. The new Minister for Public Works has already expressed disapproval of the time-worn policy of constructing disconnected scraps of railway all over the country. His recent tour of the East Coast can hardly have failed to confirm him in his resolve to abandon this system because'nowhere else is its futility more strikingly manifested. Of every two miles of railway laid on the East Coast less than one has been handed over to the Railways Department. Of every two pounds spent only a little more than one is fully interestearning. The various portions of the East Coast railway may be thus enumerated, those which have no connection with tho main railways of the Dominion being marked with an asterisk :—

Total* 132 £1,397,074 Of all the East Coast lines only 13 miles between Paeroa and Waihi form part of the main system,. The other 119 miles are subdivided into four separate sections, only one of which is operated by the working Railways Department, and two of which give a meagre service under the Public Works Department Carrying the analysis a step further it will be seen that 62 miles, costing £770,087, are open for traffic. The other 70 miles, built at a cost of £626,987, are earning little or no interest. Canterbury is urging the completion of the Otira tunnel on the ground that the large sum sunk in its construction should bo made interest-producing. Costly as the tunnel has been, it can hardly be locking up more public money unreproductively than the segregated sections of the East Coast railway. Its ultimate interest-earning capacity is infinitely smaller. The dominating factor in the public works situation is still labour. Mr. Coates' intentions are so obviously good that the public may have over-rated the immediate prospect of carrying them into effect. But no Minister can build roads and railways without men and the departmental staff is still ndarly 1000 short of its normal pre-war complement of 5000. In the later stage of the war the employees of the Department fell to the number of about 2000. In March— last month for which statistics are available—that number had risen to 4300, of whom 1800 were employed on

roads and 1700 on ; railways. The figures .are far from satisfactory. The country had been led to believe that.- the , war-time stagnation of public works '■ would be ; followed ■by a period of; vastly-increased activity. The Prime Minister once spoke of putting 12,000 men on public works after the war, and even Sir William Fraaer, who generally, erred on tho safe- side, held out a prospect of 8000 or' 10,000. , Sixteen months after the cessation of hostilities the Department could attract only 4300 men to its employ, and owing to. their being scattered in petty gangs all over the Dominion their effective working power was low. Such a vital section of lino as that between Waihi and Tauranga claimed only 83 men. Before Sir' William Frascr relinquished the 1 portfolio he had formed the opinion that a, vigorous public works policy deponded strictly upon active immigration. His successor can hardly escapo tho same conclusion.' The whole success of the forward movement Mr. Coatcs has advocated will bo jeopardised unless ho can mobilise» more manpower for public works. There appears to bo little prospect of doing 'so apart from a special immigration scheme in tho interests of railway and road construction.

Completed Cost. miles. £ Paeroa-Waihi ,. ,,13 143,438 Waihi-Tauranga .. .. None 42,264 •Tauranga-MaUta .. ,. 40 352.761 •Motu-Gieborae ' . . .. 49 626,649 •Gisborno southwards .. 30 178,279 •Wairott northwards .. None 1,6-19 Napier northwards .. None 52,043