THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1908. THE POLITICAL LEADERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14356, 28 October 1908, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1908. THE POLITICAL LEADERS.

liir speocli. which the Prime Minister delft ered at \V inton on Monday night, constituted <v temperate and judicious exposition. of the. case. for the Government. at the. present juncture, and it is not, least effective because it is studiously moderate in tone. Tlio criticism which it chiefly invites is that it claims for the, Ministry a great deal more credit than it. is fairly entitled to leceive. Sir Joseph Ward quoted statistics freely in order to show that there lias been substantial progress in New Zealand in the past ten years. The evidence, which the, figures supply respecting tlio -incrcaso of population ! and of wealth and respecting tlio expansion of trade of the. country is fortunately irrefutable. It is not- to be pretended, however,—and Sir Joseph; A\ard discreetly refrained, from suggest•n£> that this progress is entirely attributable to the Government. Even if wb admit that legislation and public administration may have contributed in some degree to the development of the resources of the country and to tlio improvement in the material condition of the population, it will not be denied, wo hope, that the industry, the energy, and tlio enterprise of individuals liavd accounted largely for the. expansion which lias occurred. There is, wo fear, too muck disposition on the. part of politicians of a certain school to ascribe, on the one hand, the progress of the Dominion in trade and industries to State action, and too little disposition .to ascribe, on the other hand, the growth of State revenues to the. operation df private enterprise. Sir Joseph Ward's comparison of; the earningpGwer of the railways in 1891 and 1908 furnishes an illustration in point. We are told that, while tlio railways yielded in 1891 a return of £2 18s lid per cent, of the cost, the return they have given this year is £3 Gs 8d per cent, And the conclusion the Prime Minister invites the electors,to draiv from tliis is that the expenditure which the Government has incurred in extending the system ,and in improving the character and equipment of the lines has immensely augmented the earning power of tho railway.-. Not a, word dees ho say concerning tho industry of the settlers aiid tho enterprise of the traders who have provided the traffic for the railways, yet surely those arc factors that .should be considered just as muoli as tho step? taken by tho. Government in increasing the'weight of the rails and the inmvber of sleepers per ti'aia mile! Moreover, it is to be observed that the comparison which tho Prime Minister gives of the results of tlio working of the railways in 1891 and 1908 is so inadequate as to bo misleading, It overlooks tho, important consideration that tlio expenditure which is now oharged against the working railways account excludes many items, possibly totalling in the aggregate a largo sum, that were' formerly detrayed out of revenue. But; notwithstanding tliis, it costs 70.59 per cent, of the revenue which is earned by tlio railways at, the present time to provide for the win-king expenses, whereas the proportion of expenditure to revenue in 1891, although, we repeat, the expenditure then included numerous charges that are now illegitimately debited to the capital accouut, was only 03,47 per cent. The Government would, as a. matter of fact, have been able to show a distinctly more favourable return from the operation of the railways system if the cost of •the construction of railways had nob teen enormously increased under its! direction. The actual expenditure by the Public Works Department' upon railways during the Government's term of office- has, Sir Joseph Ward says, been £10,2-59.281. For this expenditure 'the country has received the benefit of tho use of G32 additional miles of railway. These figures show that the average cost- to the country of every mile of railway which has been opened for traffic during the regime of the present Gfrvemmont lias fce-cn £1G,223. Now, the average post per mile of open line for the wliole period covered by tho history of railway construction in New Zealand is £8849. Moreover, a. simple arithmetical process shows- that the average cost of construction per mile prior to the advent of the present Government to office was. £7G57. Consequently the cost of railway construction per mile has been mere thau doubled under tho system adopted by tho Government. The increase in cost is due partly, no doubt, to tho increased cost of labour | and it is partly duo to tlio causes mentioned by Sir Joseph Ward, but it must be evident that these factors do not sufficiently explain the tremendous disparity and that tbo figures supply a . ciu.shing condemnation of the co-opern- > tive system as costly and wasteful.

•The Prime Minister has { satisfactorily answered a, point- recently mad© by Sir James Allen at Stirling respecting the liability shown in tho Public Works Estimates a.-« attached to the Midland railway scheme—a point in connection with which Mr Allen, in an Apparently unguarded moment, uttered a comment capable of a contraction that is exceedingly regrettable and that cannot, vvo believe, have been intended by a statesman of Mr Allen's experience and knowledge. But Sir Joseph Ward has not disposed of Ah' Allen's assertion that. the. appropriations "this year against the Public Works Fund total a sum in excess of the amount which: in the most favourable circumstances can be provided fcr the fund. The criticism, which is-, indeed, unanswerable, illustrate:; with complete effectiveness tli(i absolute, liollowness and nntrustwoithiness of the public, works proposals. Nor can it he held that Sir Joseph Ward has succeeded in demonstrating that tho Government's design, which Parliament obediently endorsed, for the erection of now Houses of Assembly and departmental offices in Wellington will not. involve a Jingo expenditure. Mr Allen has calculated that the expenditure will be nearer £500,000 than £400,000, and-,Mr Massey, who. regards the Government's scheme as highly extravagant, estimated at Feild-,-ing on Monday night that the building would cosb £450,000, including £50,000 on iho Governor's vesitlonce ) niul that furnishings would absorb an additional £50,000. Tho Prime Minister, on' the

other hand, lias stoutly maintained that the expenditure would not exceed £225,000.' lb now appears, however, that this estimate do.?s not contain any provision whatever for tho erection of now Government, Buildings to replace the old wooden structure, which, n<; Sir Joseph-. Ward explains, contains millions of documents that constitute valuable ami, in., fact, pvicolpss records, The only provision in the estimate of £225,000 for tho erection of Government. Buildings is one of £20,000. But this, is simply the estimated cost of accommodation that is required that supplied in- tlie existing offices for departments which, owing to the expansion -of their business, are in need of extra, room. -It has been plainly shown, however, by tho speeches of the Prime Minister in Parliament that the proposal of tho Government is to erect, en the former site of Parliament Buildings, new departmental offices which shall accommodate the whole of the ■ Civil Service that now occupies tlie old wooden stvwtwe. Indeed, it is- by tlie disposal on building lea.se- of tho site on which the old structure .stands that the Government 'hopes to provide- tlie interest on the expenditure, involved in the at ption of its scheme. Ami it is a distinct subterfuge, to suggest now that an expenditure of £'20,000 is to suffice for the erection of departmental offices. Tlie fact i.s, as was stated at Auckland last' week by the Minister of Education, that this sum is to bo devoted to providing tho extra, accom-\ modation that is now needed":'when the expenditure of £20,000 has been incurred the Government will still have its -big scheme, on hand for the erection of new offices for tlie occupation of the Civil Service. It is clear, therefore, that the cost of the now Government Buildings that are. to replace tho old premises must be added to tho figure of £2-25,000 in order that the total expenditure necessary to complete the building scheme which is contemplated may be estimatsd. And from this it may ba gathered that the conclusions formed by Mr Mnssey and Mr Allen respecting tho ultimata cost ~of the scheme will not bo far off the mark. Mr Mnssey devoted a large portion of bis speech at Feilding to a- discussion of the land question, upon which ho holds views that . are recognised by the vast majority of the settlers of the country to be .sound and sensible. In addition, he submitted the policy of the Opposition— a policy which. in its peculiarly distinctive features should widely command favour and which is to.be contrasted, on the .one.', hand, with the Government's policy or "rest," and, on the other ' hand, wit-In 'the extremist!' policy of collective ownership of the sources of wealth.