LEGISLATURE IN SESSION

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12247, 19 September 1925, Page 6

LEGISLATURE IN SESSION

ROADS AND BRIDGES DAY IN THE HOUSE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT MEMBERS TALK AT LENGTH OF LOCAL WANTS Moat of yesterday*# sitting was devoted to the discussion of the Public Wofrks Statement and the consideration of the Public Works Estimates. Members talked at length of their local wants, and much of the spoken matter was of no general interest*

HIGH FIGURE CRITICISED Mr G. W. Forbes, Leader of the Opposition, criticised th© Government for its attitude towards the requirements of the various individual districts. The total public works estimates (£7,798,500) was considered to be exceptionally large, and compared very significantly with those of a few years' ago when the total estimated expenditure was £2,000,000, which was thought at the time to be alarmingly high. The development of hydro-elec-tricity had assuredly swelled the expenditure required, but seven millions was a large sum N for a country of this kind. ... . Al Mr Forbes went on to criticise the Minister for Lands, for his statements respecting the needs of individual districts, and said the Minister appeared to be the mouthpiece of the Government, and it could well be assumed that the Government had adopted a like attitude. Personally he thougnt members were in duty bound to advance the requirements of their *’ e " spective districts, and it appeared, that the allotments of money were being made according to !he pressure brought to bear upon the House, with no consideration for the actual requirements. In fact, he assumed that the Government was in such a position that it could not make up its mind as to howmuch was actually required. DUTY OF MEMBERS Xt was not right for Ministers to ‘‘go whining around the country, complaining that members were claiming too much for their districts. It was for the members to bring the matters forward, and the Government to Bay where the money should he spent. But the present Government was the weakest that had graced the Treasury benches if it was not strong enough to say what was required. Mr' Forbes objected to tho reference of the Minister for Lands in a speech at Wanganui recently, about tho opposition “blowing not and blowing cold,” and expressed the opinion- that the Government’s policy was that the least said by members about thendistricts, tho more would bo done tor them by the Government. . The Brim© Minister: That is not fl Mr Forbes: But it must be. It cannot amount to anything else Mr R. A. Wrigat (Wellington Suburbs): It does not work out that way. MONEY FOR HIGHWAYS In continuing, Mr Forbes quoted figures from tho Budget showing the monies that had been allotted arid expended in the North and South Islands respectively, and said there was a good deal of highways borrowing going on at the present time, but he considered that the policy of the Highways Board was too restricted, inasmuch as the money raised and collected for certain works was bemaavcumulated instead or being put back on the roads. Local bodies were aslced for their contributions towards various undertakings, and the hoard bor rowed the money. But a great deal th© south There was a heavy call on roads, should result. The Leader of Hie Opposition dwelt on the difference in the csHmates between the amount propose, am) that actually required tor expenditure, in some years it had been two millions, he sail and he wondered why those who were preparing the estimates could not get a little nearer the correct figure than that. The solu ion he suggested was the presentation of p rH Public Works estimates to a Fariia mentary committee before they were brought before tbe House. SCARCITY of loans Sir John Luke reminded the House that the Opposition had frequently urged heavy expenditure in ccrtam de nartments of public works, and then invariably blamed th© for the heavy figure reached. tte consio. ered that the chief difficulty to be faced in the future was that of loan moneys, for it was obvious that, with the rapid depletion of the public wealth in the Old Country, the loan moneys from London would in a measure 'have to be rationed out, because for overseas investments the money was not so plentiful as it had hitherto been. If a board, such as had previously been advocated, were set up to deal with all loans proposed by local bodies, the benefit to the country would bo substantial, for this would ensure an equitable distribution and regulation of borrowing. Sir John Luke urged that the matter of quick and efficient transport from farm to seaport, and a fast steamer service to the overseas markets, should be given special consideration. After all, with the familiarity of foreign competitors in the produce markets, it was essential that New Zealand should retain its good faith with tho people of tbe Old Country. Irrigation and railway extension were aLo touched upon, Sir John Luk© recording his appreciation of the progress that had been made on the Napier-Gisborne line, which he regarded as the feeder and outlet to a richlyproducing district. He wished to see tho completion of the link between Greymouth and YVestport by the construction of the Westport-Inangaliua railway line, which would serve to join two important industrial areas. ROADS AND RAILWAYS It was time that a definite decision had been reached in respect to the South Island Main Trunk line. New Zealand was, generally speaking, doing exceptionally well in the matter of public works. Its credit was til a best in the world, while the expenditure on main highways was going to be a huge national, as well as an individual benefit to those utilising mechanical locomotion. The specialisation in hydro-electric develop memt had

been quite justified, and he believed that the linking up of Lake Waikaremoana in the general scheme would soon become essential.' In turning nearer home, Sir John Luke advocated something definite in respect to the Tawa Flat railway deviation to relieve the WellingtonJohnsonville section, and th© pursuance of the scheme to pierce the Rimutaka ranges. Until this latter work was executed, the West Coast line would have to carry the bulk of tbe traffic from the centre of the North Island. He was pleased with the progress towards the new railway station . at Wellington, and asked for the work to he speeded up as far as possible. TOWN AND COUNTRY Mr D. G. Sullivan (Avon) contended that it could not he said with accuracy that the local bodies were guilty of extravagance. A careful investigation would show that they had! done better with their money than the Government had with its. Mr W. D. Lysnar (Gisborne) complained that the country’s development to-day was at a standstill for want of capital, while every municipality was spending more than it should. Tt was not well that the towns should be develoDing faster than the country districts. “Tho stagnation in many of the prosperous country districts is entirely due to the Tory policy which' has been followed too long,” was a contribution by Mr H. T. Armstrong to the debate. “IN THE DYING HOURS” “The bringing down of the Public Works Statement and Estimates in the dying hours of the session” was referred to bv Mr T. IC. Sidey (Dunedin South). This, he said, was one of the things which were going to be reformed by the Reform Government. Mr Coates: That is what we are doing. Mr Sidey: For thirteen years they have been in office Mr Potter: Lucky for the country ! Mr Sidev: These things are still being brought down in the dying hours of the session. Mr Coates: On what grounds do you base your argument? Mr Sidey: We know the session is drawing to a close. The very fact that they could be brought down in the second week in September shows that in other sessions they could have been brought down in other years long before the dying hours of the session. AN IMPORTANT RAILWAY Sir George Hunter (Waijpawa) pleaded for more energy to be infused into the task of completing the railway between Napier and Gisborne. He expressed a hope that this year the Minister would be able to spend the whole of the £200.000 it was proposed to vote for th© work. He took it that the increase in the proposed expenditure was an indication that it wa9 really intended actually to prosecute the railway, which was important not only to Napier and Gisborne, hut to the whole of Hawke’s Bay also. He would like to see an energetic policy pursued. WELLINGTON’S RAILWAY STATIONS Mr R. A. Wright (Wellington Suburbs), referring to the speech by Mr Forbes, said that members led deputations asking for the expenditure of more money in their districts, and, if they were sincere in their requests, they should not complain if the Government had to borrow more money in order to meet the demands. He was satisfied that the Government was treating the requests of the different districts on their merits. As far hack as 1914 Wellington was promised a decent railway station. Wellington was still without it, and there was a doubt if the railway work of Wellington could be carried on much longer under the present unsatisfactory conditions. After the sea wall was built there was a huge bight to fill in, and he could not see where the spoil was coming from unless from a tunnel on the Tawa Flat deviation. For this reason he would like the Tawa Flat deviation to be gone on with right awav. Wellington was very, patient; in fact its representatives sometimes were charged with being too patient. BULLER RAILWAY Mr H. E. Holland, Leader of the Labour Party, deplored the lack of progress on the Buller railway, the first sod of which was turned in June, 1906. In spite of the fact that the whole line was to be 26 miles, and the estimated period of construction had been six years, over 19 years had passed and only six miles of line had been laid, and many thousands of pounds had been spent on it. He had understood from tho Public Works Statement of 1923 that the work was to be pushed forward without delay, as it had been described ns of first importance as an outlet from the Westport district; but no headway had been recorded. Only £30,000 had been voted for the Glcnhope line, which was quite inadequate for a year’s work on an undertaking of this dimension. He contended that it would be far better to place a small sum on the Estimates and spend it, instead of voting a large sum and not spend it. Mr J. Horn (Wakatipu) asked that more attention be paid to roading and the general development of the back country, and urged the completion of the Otago Central railway, which had been commenced 42 years ago, and upon which there was only eight miles more to construct. He hoped that next year tlifie would he a vote on the Estimates for its completion. All the backblock votes during the past few years had been subsidy votes, and this frequently created a drag on those who had to provide the remainder of the money. The Government should undertake more than it had done in the past in this direction. LOCAL LOANS Local body borrowing was referred to by Mr M. J. Savage (Auckland West), who said the Minister appeared to doubt the ability of local bodies to conduct

their own finance. He did not agree with this, and declared that the money spent on national undertakings was as open to question as that which had passed through the hands ol local bodies. The powers of local governing Bodies should be widened instead of being restricted. “Place the power in these matters in the hands of the people,” he said, “and then if mistakes are made they have to pay for it themselves.” A CIVIC EXCHEQUER Mr O. J. Hawken (Egmont) 6aid that the Prime Minister had done a wonderful thing for the country by inaugurating the highways policy. He thought also that in inaugurating schemes whereby cheap power will he available, the Prime Minister had done something which would be the salvation of the secondary industries. Reference to Mr Coates’s civiq exchequer suggestion was made by Air F. Langston© (Waimarino), who did not think the mere fact of establishing such a system was going to result lin i(he elimihmtion of present problems. He thought there were too many public bodies, and that if there was more co-operation with the Publio Works Department quite a tot of money would be saved. He did uot protest against the expenditure of publio money, and he hoped to see much more spent to make decent roads in the King Country. His only complaint was against the methods adopted for the raising of the money. RAILWAYS IN TARANAKI Mr S. G. Smith (Taranaki) expressed disappointment at the proposed establishment of still another . hoard in a country which he declared to he already overridden with boards. He could not congratulate the Minister on the reference in the report to the Stratford main trunk railway, which, in spite of its importance as a relief line for traffic from the north of the island, and in spite of its prospects as a profitable concern, was religiously placed aside annually on the ground of tunnelling difficulties. Certainly a sum had been voted for expenditure on this work, but there was no guarantee that any of this would be applied to the Stratford end. It was also desired that the Manaia branch should be pushed forward. In a reference to borrowing generally, Mr Smith urged the closest scrutiny on any loan proposal, >nd said that although comparatively little had been spent on increasing production, the exports of New Zealand were not sufficiently in excess of the imports tt pay the country’s interest bill* It was suggested by Mr Smith that if the whole of the dairy produce from the Waimate district could be conveyed to the seaports by rail, the revenue derived would he sufficient to pay interest, depreciation and the cost of running of the Manaia line. He believed that with proper administration, and tho equitable distribution of money, the Highways Act might prove so successful as to- eventually secure the elimination of some of the smaller local bodies. , This would be welcomed. DAMAGE BY FLOjDDS Mr W. H. Field (Otaki), advanced a further claim for th© execution of th© Tawa Flat deviation, and faid the existence of the people along the Manawatu line depended in a large measure on this work. At the present time the local requirements were being hampered by the line being used so frequently by through expresses. One of the largest problems facing this portion of the country was the flood damage, and in one instance a small farmer had spent £I6OO in trying to keep the river from damaging his land. Lopal bodies were , almost powerless to check the ravages of the floods, which were in many instances due to the trees being felled on the upper reaches In the Manawatu much land was being damaged, and much money lost through lack of facilities to handle tile situation. . At 12.30 the Prime Minister rose, and, in the course of a reply to the criticisms of members, reviewed the Government’s railway policy. The House went into committee of supply at 1.30 a.m. to consider the estimates.

■ » ,f BANK OF ENGLAND WEEKLY RETURN. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received September 18, 9.15 p.m,) LONDON, September 17. ■ The Bank ot England returns this week are as follow: — ISSUE DEPARTMENT. £ Notes issued Government debt 11,015,000 Other securities ; 8.735,000 Gold, coin, and bullion 109,236,000 BANKING DEPARTMENT. •£ Proprietors’ capital 14,553,000 Public deposits 17,450,000 Other deposits 111,040,000 .Seven-day and other bills ...... 3,000 ' Government securities 38,014,000 Other securities 71,445,000 Notes 35,458,000 Gold and silver coin 1,828,000 Proportion of reserve to liabilities, 29 per cent. Short loans, 34 per cent. Three months' bills, 3 11-16 per cent. LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE GOVERNMENT SECURITIES. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association (Received September 18, 9.15 p.m.) LONDON, September 17. Following are the latest quotations for Imperial and Colonial Government securities, compared with those ruling on

September 10th : — j Sept. 19. Sept. 10. JJ s. £ 6. 2h p.c. Imperial Consols... 55 10 55 21 r, p.c. War Loans (1923-27) 101 17$ 101 12.1 3.1 p.c. War Loan (1925-29) 97 90 174 p.c. Conversion TO 6 p.c. Aus. Comm. (1931121 76 21 41) 103 5 103 10 51 p.o. Aus. Coram. (192227) 102 0 101 15 G p.c. N.Z. (1936-51) 108 5 108 5 4 p.c. N.Z. (1929) 97 n 07 0 31 p.c. N.Z. (1949) 8-1 124 84 15 3 P.c. N.Z. (1945) 76 121 76 0 61 p.c. N.S.W. (1330-40) ... 104 15 104 10 G p.c. N.S.W. (1930-32) ... 103 174 104 10 5} p.c. N.S.W. (1922-32) ... 102 -2 102 0 4 p.c. N.S.W. (1S33) 92 b 92 2$ 31 p.c. N.S.W. (1930-50) ... 81 174 81 15 31'p.c. N.S.W. (1935) 78 0 78 0 5? p.c. Vic. (1930-40) 100 121 100 12$ 31 p.c. Vic. (1921-2G) 99 m 09 17$ 3 1 p.c. Vic. (1929-49) 78 15 70 0 3 p.c. Vic. (1929-40) 73 0 73 0 6 p.c. Q’land (1930-40) 102 124 102 15 31 p.c. Q’land (1922-47) ... 70 1.3 70 2$ 0 61 p.c. S. Aus. (1945) 105 0 105 31 p.c. S. Aus. (1939) 84 0 84 0 a n.c. vS. Aus. (1046) 61 10 62 0 G p.c. W. Aus. (1936-401.. 102 171 102 15 34 n.c. W. Aus. (1920-35).. 87 VI 87 5 3 p.c. W. Aus. (1915-35).. 83 10 83 0 GV p.c Tas. (1920-40) 105 74 105 0 3? ii.i Tas. (19.10-40) 83 Li 83 15 3' n . L’ns. (1920.1940) ... 78 1U 78 15