THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2642, 2 November 1904, Page 83

THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

[Br Telegeaph.]

WELLINGTON, October -28.

In the House of Representatives this the Hon. W. Hall-Jones was laid on the evening the Public Woife Siatenient by tabla. The following aro the leading features : —

Mr Speaker, — It is my pleasing duty to place before hon. members my ninth consecutive* Public Works Statement, and to report satisfactory progress has been made made with the various works in hand. The progress may not have been so rapid as some would wish, but it must be gauged by the sums available for t*he several works. Hon. members must bear in mind that every mile of railway constructed and every chain of road completed is so much done towards establishing the means of communication necessary for the development of the country in which we live. Each year marks so much of this work accomplished. Our pioneer settleiVs, who go to the back-blocks and by their energy and perseverance bring hitherto waste lands into cultivation, must, so far as means permit, be. assisted in their efforts by the formation of roads and the* extension of railways, so that the products of the soil may be conveyed to che colonial markets or the nearest ports of shipment for export. Our colony has so many natural advantages that to neglect so important a public policy would be to place a great restriction upon the expansion of trades. The marked increase in the exports during recent years could not have been reached but for the improved means of internal communication. As the years go by this great work is being gradually accomplished, and I look forward to the time when, by the completion of the main lines of railway and of our road system, together with the increased population induced by the settlement of the people upon the land, we shall reap to the full extent the benefits derived from the work which has been, and is being 1 , carried out.

RAILWAYS COMPLETED

In my last Statement hon. members were informed of the completion of 64 miles 60 chains of railway. Since that 'date the following sections have been finished: — Poro-o-tarao-Tauni'arunui (December 1(, 1903), 27 miles 36 chains : Owaka-Catlins (August 1, 1904), 3 miles 38 chains; Ida VaileyOphir (September 1, 1904), 13 miles 30 chains ; Mangaweka-Taihape (September 12, 1904), 13 miles 18 chains; KawakawaKopuru (ready), 8 miles ; Paeroa-Karanga-hake (ready), 4 miles 30 chains; Taumaru-nui-Piriaka (ready), 6 miles 48 chains ; Ota-rama-Staircase (ready), 5 miles 3 chains; — total, 81 miles 43 chains. And the

Following sections will probably be rjsa.dy. before the next Public Works Statement is delivered : — AhuAoa-Mahu-ran&i. 2 miles 40 chains : KarangahakeWaikino, 3 miles 40 chains; KaiteratahiKaraka, 4 miles ; Toko-Oruru. 4 miles 72 chains ; Motupiko-Tadmor, 10 miles 29 chains ; Reefton-Boatmans, 6 miles 6 chains ; Greymouth-Coal Creek (now running coal traffic), 5 miles 1 chain ; Sear°ill-Hurunui, 9 miles; Heiiiot-Edie. 6 miles 20 chains; — total, 48 miles 32 chains.

TOTAL EXPENDITURE.

The expenditure during the last financial year was in excess of the previous year, but was not equal to that during 1901. A table is given showing the expenditure from the inauguration of the public works policy to the 31st December, 1900, and other details.

WAYS AND MEANS.

At the- 31st March, 1903, the available balance of ways and means for public works purposes was £338.565, and further funds were received as under: —

Balance of £1,000,000 loan raised undeitbe act of 1902, £740,000; amount raised under the act of 1903, £583.950; debentures issued under Midland Railway Petitions Settlements Acte. £150,000 ; transferred from revenue, £350,000 ; miscellaneous receipts, £1665 ; — making a gross total of £2.164,180.

The expenditure of the year (including the £150,000 paid to the Midland railway debenture-holders) amounted to £1.770,378, leaving- a credit balance- at the end of the year of £393,802.

For the current year it is proposed to provide additional funds as under: — Balance of 1903 loan. £416.050 : new loan of 1904, £750.000. The Consolidated Fund should be able to assist with £650,000. lliis will give a total available waj-w and means of £2,209,852. The estimated expenditure for public works for the current year (excluding separate accounts having their own ways and means) amounts to £1.403,100. thus leaving a balance ol £805,752 to be carried forward to next year. RAILWAYS UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

No new railway works were started last year, but those already in hand were further proceeded with. A statement is given of

what lias been done on -each of the lines since the 51st March, ISOS, and of what is proposed for the cuirent year. The votes proposed for the vanous linos are: —

Kaw.ikawa-Grahamstown. — Expenditure last year, £10,914 ; vote asked for. £10,000. Helensville-Northwards. — Expenditure la=:t year, £11.788: vote. £10.000. Pacroa-W?ihi. — Expenditure, £26.463; vote about £40.000, charged to ? separateaccount last year's act. Gisborue-Rotorua. — Expenditure. £l«.3«50 ; vote, £10,000. Stratf ord-Ongarue. — Expenditure, £81138 1 13 ; vote, £7000. Mount Egmont branch. — Expenditure, £SSO: vote, £5000. North Island Main Trunk hno.—Expenditure, £172,480; vote, £150,000. Blenheim-Waipara.— Expenditure, hZi,B±s ; vote. £25.000. Midland Railway.— Expenditure, :05,5,547; vote a-ked for, £60,000. Ngapere-Blaokball.— Expenditure, L 19.55 8; vote proposed, £10,000. Coal Creek.— Expenditure. £23,112: vote of £10,000 provided on the Cor.c-olidateJ Fund Estimates.

Greymouth - Hokitika. — Exisenditure, £25.063: vote. £15.000. Otago Central —The section between Ida Valley and Ophir has been completed and. opened for traffic. The line was opened fqr passenger traffic to Ophir on the Ist .September. Earthworks on the Chatto Creek section are well in hand, and a contract has been entcied into for the bridge over the second crossing of the Manuherikia River. The next section of line to be opened will bo the second to Chatto Creek. This will bring the railway within 10], miles of Alexandra. Last year's expenditure amounted to £47,997. For the current year a vote of £50,000 is provided.

Heriot Extension. — The formation works on this extension have now been completed, and the bridges nearly so. A contract has been let for the station buildings at Edie, and considerable progress made with 'the work. Every effort will be niada to have the line suitable for traffic as early as possible. The disbursements last year weir© £6257. being a few pounds in excess of the vote provided. For the current year an appropriation of £7000 is asked for. Oatlins-Seaward Bush. — Work at Catling end, which was in progress last year, has now been finished, and regular goods .and' passenger traffic has been run since the lsfc of August. It is proposed to carry the survey right through to a junction with the Seaward Bush line at Waimahaka. The Railway Authorisation Bill now before Parliament provides for the formal authorisation of further sections of four miles afc Catlins end of the line. The expenditure on this railway last year amounted to £6811, and for the present year a vote of £8000 is asked for. _

Riversdale-Switzers. — The combined road and railway bridge over the Mataura. 'River has been finished, and was opened for- road traffic in April last. Formation works on this railway, with the exception of the embankments leading on to the bridge at each, end, were completed several years" ago for* a distance of seven miles. An extension oF" atout 55 chains would bring the line to a. point where a station could bo conveniently located alongside the main road to Switzers. To complete the line to this point, including rails, sleepers, station buildings, etc., would cost about £17.000. When opportunity offers this work should be taken in hand. The expenditure on the work duringr last financial year amounted to £2639, and a vote of £2000 is asked for this year to meet the expenditure already incurred. Orepuki-Waiau. — As mentioned in my last year's Statement, the section to Waihoaka was handed over to the Railway Department for regular traffic in October. 1903. The expenditure out of last year's vote amounted to £3956. TOTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. . Including the amounts for the PaeroaWaihi and the Ooal Creek lines, which are both chargeable to special separate accounts, and the votes for old land claims (£1000), surveys of new lines (£3000), and permanent way materials (£60,000), the total proposed appropriations for railway construction purposes amount to £484,000. ROADS AND BRIDGES. The ordinary work of the Department of Roads for the year was comprised under four votes (three under the Public Works Fund and one under "the Government Loans to Local Bodies' Account), containing together 2051 items, each of which represented a separate work. The total amount voted for expenditure unoer these four votes was £400,704', out of which, the actual net expenclituire. ' (inclusive of a sum of £39,8 charged to unauthorised) was £322,694. In addition to this, the sum of £19,099 was expended by the department on road works, etc., cut of the Land for Settlements Account. The actual expenditure, therefore, out of all votes and accounts for road works under the control of the Roads Department was £341,793. The total authorisations outstanding at the 31st March. 1903. out of all votes and accounts was £337,689. During the year 1903-4 there was authorised the sum of £261.163. making a total issue of £598,852, o p which a gross sum of £345,777 was expended and £94.493 cancelled, leaving £158,582 of authorities outstanding afc theIst April, 1904, which is £179,107 le-=s than, at the beginning of the year. The total! length of roads dealt with by the Department of Roads during the past year amounted in all to 5458 miles — viz., 426 miles dray road and 201 miles bridle roada constructed ; 577 miles dray roacts and! 239 miles bridle i - oads improved : 2696 inileg dray roads and 1319 mileis bridle roads maintained. Tr.eie were also, including those subsidised by Government, 118 bridges of over 30ft span built, totalling 10,428 f t; and 490 miles of engineering survey completed. These figures include 82 miles of roads constructed, improved, or maintained-; and 12 bridges, totalling 495 ft, and 81 miles of engineering survey on estates r-.irchas-ed under the Land for Settlements Act. tli-o cost of which is charged to the Land for Settlements Account. They al=o include 78 miles of road? improved or maintained out of moneys under the control Af the- Minister of Mines. In addition to the above, the department manages the work of legalising, closing, and de\iating rosds for Government and local bcd:cs, and taking land therefor mider the Public "Woiks am. .'ier Acts, and .settling, disputes between local! bodies 'as to the" apportionment of the cost of constructing and maintaining bridges or loads.

Most of the new roads and bridle-roacs have been made to give access to lands rcoently taken up, although a considerable, amount has been spent in the older dis-

tricts on bridges and other improvenxeuts

to roads. As long as it is the policy of the Government to settle people on land to which no roads have been made, it should bo a cardinal point of such policy to construct at least unmetalled dray roads to the lands so disposed of, and the expenditure required for that purpdse should take (precedence of road expenditure in localities which already are roaded up to that degree. In connection with this, I may mention that during the year under review 1959 holdings, mostly in unroaded districts, Shave been disposed of, exclusive of those on estates acquired for closer settlement under the Land for Settlements Act. The appropriations proposed for the current year are as under : —Roads, departmental, £18,605; roads, generally, £216,450; maintenance of main roads, £28,458:. tourist roads, £16,498; Government loans to local bodies' account, £35,000; land for settlements account, £6910 ; — total, J835L910. . " Roads on Goldfields (Mines Department). •—The vote last year under this head amounted to £31*,200. The expenditure, fhowever, considerably exceeded this sum., having amounted to £45,594, with /fcontin'gent liabilities at the end of the year of J823,575- Theyfium proposed to be authorised for the current year 'is £63,621, on account of which a vote of £35,000 is asked far. .' ' -Development of Goldfields and Mining.— "Tie amount expended .last financial year "ori^eorks for the development of the go* ..fields was £16,299,- while .the liabilities at ' the .-close oij the year amounted to £2039. It is proposed to take a vote of £14,000 for the current year. s . -Tourist and Health Resorts.— The expenditure under this heading during the year amounted to £15,643, a .large portion of ,jwhioh~was speat^.in and around Rotorua. Other item?- iifciud-ed the" purchase of Glade House (Lake Te An'au) and improvements at-Hjanmer and Queenstown. This ■year important improvementss at Hananer, Te Ar'oha, Waikaremoa'na, and Rotoirua have to bs provided for, as well as for <the enlargement- of 'Pukaki House and 'da'de House, Te Anau. Provision is also made for the oil launches purchased to meet *he increased traffic on Lakes Tarawera and Botomahana. The gross authorisation asked for femounts to "£26,648, on account of "which a vote of £25,000 is proposed.

TELEGRAPH EXTENSION.

The expenditure on telegraph extension during the year amounted to, £47,227. Th«re ■were 1472 new subscribers to the telephone exchanges, the expenditure" on which absorbed the greater proportion' of the vote. THe amount allocated' "for this year is '£60,000, including £43,877 liabilities.- This Jeaves.only £16,123 for new work not already 'authorised., V .

- .The tpl^;«xpenditure on public, buildings last year amounted, to £268,523— namely, £291526 in. school buildings and £22,815 on other buildings, both .out of - the Consolidated Fund,- and £216,192" out of the Public JSFoflcs'>-I?tihdr' 'For "the current year votes totalling ;£25,075 under "the- .Cdrisolidated riPund-.Jlin addition to the. vote for school ibaildinss, ■which has now been placed "tmder Glass XTT, Minister of Education) and £177,000' under fhe Public Works Fund are proposed, and in all probability a further Bum will be. asked for on the Supplementary Estimates.

GENEBAL.

Under this.-head the expenditure amounted to £11,566, the' principal items N being the new departmental buildings at Napier and ■the offices and laboratory for the Mines Department at Wellington. For the current year a vote of £9000 is, 4 asked for, which (provides for the "completion ' of the offices •and laboratory for the Mines Department, /Wellington; offices for the Defence Dejpartment at the Alexandra Depot, Wellington; the completion of the first portion of the new department building, Napier; and 'if or making a commencement- with the proposed similar buildings at Auckland, etc.

JUDICIAL.

Courthouses.— For the current year -votes are proposed for the following new courtihoiises: — At Hamilton, Tauranga, and Campbelltown ; the completion of the new -buildings at Wellington and Dnnedin, and additions or improvements at Shortland, Hastings, Woodville, Stratford, Westport, .Hokitika, and Timaru.

Gaols. — The expenditure under this head

■was in excess of that for the previous year, but was ( stall not large. In the current year's vote provision is made for qontinuing .the work at Auckland,* further additions at •Wellington, and for minor works at Napier, New . Plymouth, Wanganui, Hokitika, .Timaru, Dunedin, ami Invercargill. * - Police Stations.— pA< large. - number of buildings were dealt' [with under, this head, -tnit ' no _ individual work involved 1 a]ay large expenditure, '-ibis year votes are^rdjjosed* "for iiew Jitajions at ' Newtown^ • Waluku, -Ttaglan, and,' Gore, and increased' accommo■dation or improvements at Auckland, Cam•bridge, Taumarunui, Hastings, Palmerston North, Greymouth, Amberley, Rangiora, Sumner, New Brighton, Belfast, Temuka, Timaru, Pleasant Point, .Dunedin, and Inveroargill, besides minor works at numerous other places. Post and Telegraph. — The expenditure. on and telegraph Ibuildings and sites was considerably less than during the previous year. The vote for the current year prorides for new offices at Parnell, Grey Lynn, iWhakarewarewa, Whakatane, Tauranga, iWaipiro Bay, Tokomaru Bay, New Plymouth, Pungarehu, Taihape, Bulls, PalmerBton North, Otaki, Hutt, Nelson, Millertou, Brunnerton, Greymouth, St. Albans, Momington, Waikaka, Winton, Otautau, and (Stewart Islands, also additional accommodation or -improvements among other places at Pembroke, Queenstown, Gore, Invercargill, and Bluff. Custom Houses. — The expenditure under the head was almost wholly in connection •with the new Custom House at Wellington. The vote proposed for the current year provides- for the completion of this i>uilding and the necessary fittings and furniture. -Lunatio Asylums.— The expenditure on Ibuildings of this class totalled to £15,812, j (being principally in connection with the •institutions at Porirua and Sunnyside. For the current year a larger expenditure is tonticipated, provision being «adi& in the .Estimates for the completion of the auxiliary buildings at Porirua &nd Sunnyside, and for additions at Auckland and Seacliff, etc' Schools.— The amount voted for school ibuildings last year totalled io £124,025— namely, £29,725 under the Consolidated Fund, and £94,300 under the Publio Works •Fund. The expenditure amounted to £116,615— namely, £29,526 under the Consolidated Fund* a»d. £87,039 under the

Public Works Fund. For the current year a total appropriation of £103,615 is asked for — namely, £33,615 under the Consolidated Fund, and £70,000 under the Public Works

Other Buildings.— An expenditure of £4291 took place in connection with our general hospitals. The expenditure under the head of harbour defences has now been brought within very narrow limits, last year's disbursements totalling to only £2885. For the current year a vote of £4000 is proposed. Utilisation of Water Power. — In my last Statement I alluded to the arrival in the colony of Mr L. M. Hancock, M.A.I.E.E. Mr Hancock spent 82 days in the colony, and was fully occupied in acquiring information during the whole of that time, and consequently had to defer the writing of his report until after his return to America. The report was received in due course, but as it seemed to require amendments in some respects Mr Hancock was communicated with on the subject before • submitting it to Parliament, so that any alterations found neceHary therein might be duly made before publication. I expected to receive a reply by the mail which reached here on the 27th September, but as no communication came to hand it is probable Mr Hancock waa away from San Francisco when my letter arrived there, and we shall therefore have to wait the arrival of his explanations. If. Mr Hancock's reply to my letter is not received before the t close of the session a cor>y of his report will be submitted to' Parliament without awaiting his revisions. Mr Hancock's report does not, perhaps, go Into details to the extent that some hon. members might desire, but it clearly shows that there are vast possibilities aheaa of us In the matter of the utilisation of our enormous water- powers, which are evidently amongst the colony's greatest l-s rural resources. As a more detailed report seemed to be desirable so that the country might be apprised of the enormous energy only awaawng the application of Intelligence ar.d capital to turn in into a greai sr.i rce of national wealth, much further information has been collected since Mr Hancock's departure, and a further and more detailed report on the subject has been p^t pared by Mr P. S. Hay, M.A., M.lnst.C.E., the superintending engineer of the Public Works Department. Mr .Hay accompanied Mr Hancock during the and constantly conferred with him on the subject of our water powers, and* has in addition given the subject much personal study. His report, which has now been placed in the hands of hon. members, contains a mass of information of great value, and will convince the most sceptical of the great future that is before his colony as the manufacturing centre of the Pacific. The power shown- to be available is so enormous and can be developed a such a low cast per -horse-power that manufactures and industries at present unthoxtght of in New Zealand must *feefor© long- be established, and their products shipped hence to all parts of Australia and the Pacific coasts, as -well as to more distant lands. So many great and potential sources of power lie - ready to our,, hand # that we are -embarrassed by their number and variety. It therefore becomes a matter of difficulty to determine where to begin in the matter of their utilisation. Mr Hay shows that the scbeine on which he has reported (and any others may, of course, be possible) would develop energy equal to 3,700,000 horse-power— about 30 times the amount of power now used in the colony for both tractive and industrial purposes, and considerably in excess of the total fixed steam power used in the United Kingdom up to "1888, the date of the latest industrial statistics avSilable at the moment. The great bulk of this power is in the South Island, but^there is sufficient available in the North Island to meet all present requirements and to provide for considerable fitture development. The expenditure involved in converting all this waste energy into useful industrial power would, as might be expected, run into millions. It is estimated that the cost of schemes sufficient to displace all the steam, gas, and other plants at present in use in the colony, as well as to provide for the running of all the railways electrically, would amount to about £12,000,000. The information so far obtained, however, though extensive and valuable, is by no means complete, and the reports presented, though able and interesting, are not by any means exhaustive. Much further inquiry yet remains to be made, and further attention wiiT be devoted to the matter, with the view of definite proposals being submitted to Parliament.

CONCLUSION.

j Hon. members may rest assured that in allocating the moneys available every consideration has been given to what are conusidered the most urgent and necessary I works. The funds at our disposal should be sufficient to enable the several works to be proceeded with at a fair rate, and I am satisfied that the result of the current year's work will tend materially to the further development of the continued prosperity of our colony.