WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE 'SOUTHERN MERCURY.'

Otago Witness, Issue 1500, 14 August 1880, Page 17

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE 'SOUTHERN MERCURY.'

DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, 14th AUGUST, 1880.

The Public Works Statement is certainly meagre enough, but we do not know why it should create the general feeling of disappointment which it is said to have excited in the House. Except Mr Maoandrew, who asserted that had the late Government remained in office they would —by what mysterious process he does not say — have found means to carry on the Public Works policy of the past without break, no one could have expected anything but a sharp pull up. The quantity of butter available was far too little to cover the numerous pieces of bread. The rate of expenditure going on was such that the remains of the £5,000,000 loan would have been entirely exhausted before 31st March next if the brakes had not been put on and the progress of the State carriage down the slope of indebtedness had not been checked. The only thing that could justly give rise to disappointment was that the Hon. Mr Oliver, in making his announcements regarding the future, did not give reasons why certain railways were selected in preference to others to be at once proceeded with. We shall, for instance, always regard it as a puzzle why such branches as the Wind-sor-Livingßtone and the Orepuki and Otautau lines should be carried on, while the Otago Central is, comparatively speaking, left out in the cold. It is true that the Government have not dared to adopt the recommendation of the Commissioners as to the abandonment of the Otago Central, but they have only provided the sum of £87,000 for it, including £50,000 of expenditure and liabilities on 31st July, as against £39 } 000 for the other little branches to which we have alluded. However, we must be thankful for small mercies. We do not wish to urge the claims of this particular line to the exclusion of all others ; and as 700 of the " unemployed " are now doing good work on the Hindon section, and the Wingatui (section is proceeding steadily under contract, we shall expect by 31st March next such results as will put an end to all idea of the line being abandoned in favour of any other route. The figures in the Statement as telegraphed are evidently inaccurate in many particulars, and it will be better to defer further comment till we have the printed copy of the Statement before us. The announcement that the Government do not entertain the idea of selling the railways is only what we should have expected. The promised alterations in the tariff of the railways already at work will bring into effect a policy we had long advocated, namely, the increase of rates on every branch that does not pay, in order that each may stand on its own proper footing, and that no district should get cheap carriage at the expense of the whole Colony. We have strong hopes that we have seen the worst aa regards ratio between receipts and expenditure, and that henceforward our lines will begin to pay nearly if not quite the interest on the cost of construction in addition to efficient maintenance. Reductions in wages and number of officers, large reductions in train mileage, and an increase of rates on non-paying sections should together increase the net returns by £150,000 per annum at least, or something like two per cent, on the cost of construction. These results may be brought about without the appointment of the independent Board of Directors recommended by the Public Works Commissioners, an arrangement which it would be very difficult to reconcile with full Parliamentary control. The statement that 1674 of the "unemployed " are now in the pay of the Government is at first sight rather a melancholy one, but when it is remembered that these are all out of the many thousands of immigrants who have arrived during the last two years who have applied for such work,

and that they are doing work at loW rates, a good deal of which would otherwise have beon let by contract at higher rates, we see at once that the evil is after all nqfc one of serious magnitude, and it will certainly lessen as shearing- time and harvest approaches, and as the new finds of gold which are taking place in various parts of the Middle Island absorb a proportion of our surplus labour. There is nothing like a little temporary adversity to spur men on to fresh enterprise ; and industries not thought of in the days of high wages and plenty of work begin in bad times to attract the attention of the labouring classes.

The result of Wednesday's meeting regarding the Ofcago Central railway was what might have been expected. The meeting unanimously decided to ask the Government to carry jit on to the entrance of the Sfcrath-Taieri Plain rather than to stop short with the Hindon section. This is the only sensible conclusion to arrive at from a consideration of the facts of the oaae. Mr Cornell's absurd amendment did not meet with a single vote in its favour, and Mr Stodt and Mr Shand very well disposed of his assertions regarding the quanbity and quality of agricultural land in the interior of Ofcago. But apart from this general view of the question as affecting the whole interior, and confining ourselves to the point more immediately at issue, it would be absurd to make merely a metalled road along the Strath-Taieri Plain when the railway could be continued for something like £2500 to £3000 a mile for at least 20 miles, there being little more to do than to lay the permanent way. The proposal to ask that the nominal reserves made for the construction of the Otago Central should be made legal and binding is a very good one, and we hope this point will be urged on the Government successfully. As we have before said, we do not wish to bring undue pressure for the immediate expenditure of money, but we desire that there should be no mistake as to the honafide determination to push on the line to a point where land can be advantageously sold, and then to continue it with the proceeds as they become available.