“A GRAVE SCANDAL”

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11437, 6 February 1923, Page 6

“A GRAVE SCANDAL”

LOCOMOTIVE CONTRACTS MR VEITCH’S CRITICISM ON PURCHASES ABROAD. RAILWAY MINISTER REPLIES. A Press Association message from Yv anganui was published in the local papers recently, intimating that Mr W. -Y- Yeitch, M.P., had written to the Minister for Railways strongly dissenting from the spending of large sums of public money outside the Dominion for the purchaoe of locomotives, which Mr Veitch considered could be manufactured in the Dominion at a cheaper rate, and urging the necessity of immediately establishing the necessary plant for the purpose, and characterising the Government's action in purchasing the engines abroad aa a grave public scandal, while capable workmen were tramping the roads in search of employment. Mr Guthrie, Minister for Railways, who only returned to Wellington from the south on Saturday night, made the following statement in connection with the matter to a representative of this paper yesterday:— “Mr Veitch’s letter dated January 2oth was duly received. Mr Veitch published his statement on January 26th, and posted his letter on the 27th. It reached my office on Monday', the 2bth, three days after the publication of the Press Association message. “It was fully anticipated that Mr Veitch would take the opportunity offered by my statement regarding the purchase of the five additional locomotives in Great Britain to repeat the very inaccurate assertions he made so often in the House last session and during the election campaign. Despite the fact that both the Prime Minister and I repeatedly corrected the statements made by Mr Veitch, and despite the fact that the purchase price of the engines at present under order in Great Britain is thousands of pounds less than they could be manufactured for here, and also remembering that the contract placed in England would have been completed with the arrival of the two engines which were lost" in tho Wiltshire, Mr Veitch persistently reiterates the assertion that they could be built in the Dominion for less. He has also been informed on many occasions that the Government had. no option' hut to place the contract for the 45 AB locomotives abroad, owing to the fact that, we had neither the men nor the material during the war period to construct them in New Zealand, and. as Mr Veitch was very well aware, a large number of the locomotives in use in the Dominion were very old, some of them over forty years in use, of obsolete type and low tractive power, expensive to run and liable to frequent breakdowns. Consequently they were quite unsuited to present-day requirements, and urgent measures had to be taken to replace them with modern types. The new engines are thoroughly up-to-date, and capable of doing the very best work possible on the gauge used in New Zealand.

“So far as the statements contained in Mr Veitch’s communication are concerned, a full explanation of the Government’s action in placing an order in Great Britain for five additional engines for practically the price of the two lost in the wreck of the Wiltshire has already been published, and it has been pointed out by me that the imported locomotives will he brought to the North Island, thus saving the department a considerable expense in transporting a similar number which are under construction at the Addington Workshops to the North Island, and at the same time enabling the latter to he made available for the Uhristchuroh-Greymouth service. “I also emphasised the fact that the importation of these locomotives would not affect the positioiy of the New Zealand Railway Workshops, as they already have a programme which is more than sufficient to keep the whole of tho shops fully employed for the next two years, and Messrs Price Bros, have still sixteen locomotives to deliver under their contract, which will take three years to complete. “It is very difficult to understand Mr Veitch’s assertion that it would be possible to build the engines more cheaply in the department’s own shops, which he considers should he extended for the purpose, in the light of the comparative costs of construction. Tho cost of the imported engines landed on the rails in New Zealand is approximately £6,245 Built in Railway Workshops, approximately £B,OOO Plus transport South to to North Island 300 — £8,300 Built by Price Bros., Thames over £II,OOO “Seeing that the department is saving about £ISOO in transport and assembling costs on the engines being manufactured at Addington bv utilising them on the Ohristchurbh-Greymouth service instead of in the North Island, it is obvious that the Government’6 action in placing an order for five engines for approximately the same landed cost as the insurance on the two lost in the Wiltshire must be considered as most satisfactory from every point of view, especially when it is remembered that our own shops are fully occupied and that the cost of the locomotives is over £2OOO less than those being constructed in the departments shops. “I am afraid that Mr Veitch will not he grateful for all the information about railway engines with which I have supplied him, hut in any case tlje puhlio will he satisfied to know the actual position.” “I may sav,” said Mr Guthrie in conclusion, “that the price paid for the additional five locomotives now being imported has no bearing on the cost price of the engines being manufactured by Messrs Price Bros., Thames, as the material for that contract was purchased when prices and wages were verr much in excess of those ruling to-day.”