RELIEF AND LIABILITIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21167, 27 April 1932, Page 10

RELIEF AND LIABILITIES.

The request made in (lie Prime Minister yesterday thai the construction of the Westport-lnangahua railway line should he resumed as a relief job is to he numbered with the many proposals which tail to recognise the stern realities of the economic crisis. l',ven if the Unemployment Hoard were prepared to pay the labour costs, the Government docs not command the means of supplying materials, nor has it the slightest hope of borrowing the money. Thus the only work that, could be accomplished would be cuttings and fillings for the rains to destroy. Assuming that materials could be found and the line opened for traffic, what then? Would there be any likelihood of it paying its way? The Railways Hoard, which decided that its completion was not \ had no hesitation in condemning it as an economic proposition. "It appears to the board," states the report, "that there is no justification for the line. The cost of construction is high, being over £37,000 per mile. The board is of opinion that if the line returned any net revenue at all on operating, the amount would fall far short of the interest charges, and that the net result would be a further burden on the taxpayers of the Dominion without any commensurate advantage to the. Dominion as a whole." Local opinion always inclines toward optimism as to the financial pros-

pects of a line, but the only judgment .upon which any reliance can be placed is that of an independent tribunal which examines all possible factors and assesses them in the light of wide experience. Doubly doubtful arc local calculations of the earnings of a line when competition by road and sea is ready for instant attack. At the present moment the fate of one or two existing services is in the balance owing to the severity of competition. At first glance the idea of railway construction might seem a more practical form of unemployment relief than many of the undertakings of the No. 5 scheme, but whatever the futility of many of them, they have not created a local or a national liability which unquestionably would be the case were tho WestportInangahua line carried to completion, or, indeed, had anything spent upon it over and above wages from the Unemployment Fund. Already £527,000 has been expended on the line. Nine miles are open for traffic, and 17 miles were to be completed, the cost of which is estimated at £450,000. The liability obviously could not be increased at the present time, even if the Government was in a position to find the material.