POVERTY BAY RAILWAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2666, 19 April 1905, Page 13

POVERTY BAY RAILWAYS.

SPEECH BY THE HON. W. HALLJONES. .

GISBORNE, April 12,

The Hons. Hall-Jones and Carroll arrived here this morning to be present at the opening of tho railway extension to Te Karaka to-morrow, when a close holiday will be observed. The Hon. J. M'Gowan. Mr Herries, M.H.R., and Mr J. M. Clark (representing the Auckland Chamber of Commerce) arrived this afternoon.

The Minister of Works was interviewed this morning by a Railway League deputation, who urg>ed a further extension of the railway to Motu.

In the course of his reply to the local bodies' deputation, the Hon. Mr Hall-Jones r-emarked on the advance made by New Zealand since the firet railway line was opened 50 years ago. All parts of the colony had to be considered in the matter of public works. H© agreed that the local line would be a paying one. but he added that he had had 30 or 40 deputations urging the construction of new lines, and had been assured by everyone that the lines would pay. Some went further, and guaranteed that if theconstruction represented a cost of 3£ per cent., and the line- only paid 2, or even 1, per cent., they would guarantee to pay the difference. In one . case he had an offer coming along from a district in Otago in which thoe© interested volunteered to find the money for the cost of construction. This showed that the people had faith in what they advocated, and h» had faith that what had been said that morning was founded on fact. He knew of the great difficulty that was felt when timber had to be burned instead of being utilised; but this was not the only district in the colony. Within half a day's railage from one of their large cities they had fine timber that had to be burned because the people had not the facilities for getting it to market. He had often hoped that some scheme coxild be found <jf getting the land and taking off this timber, so that the people would get th» benefit and also obtain their timber at a cheaper ratg. The light railway had been suggested, and he ha<f gone into it carefully, but he found that the district was goingto progress so quickly that in the course of 10 or 15 years the line would have to be converted into a 3ft §in gauge. He realised that there was valuable timber at Motu, and in other parts of the colony the same thing existed. Ministers endeavoured to do the bo*t they could under the circumstances. He assured them that the district had obtained its share of public money. In concluding, lie said the colony Lad resources of an endless variety, the people were enterprising, and they hadi no conception of what the future of New Zeala.id was going to be. Nearly every on«* of products was commanding a price that ought to be satisfactory to the producers. The frozen mutton trad.c was always going to keep up, for there was soin-e-thing peculiar in the climate and vegetation of the colony that J£ou)<l ftlwaj'S give they- meo the best price

in the market. There were practically nounemployed now. That was not brought about by the Government, but by the people, who had put its members m their positions. In the cour-e- of some lemarks the Hop. Mr Carroll spiel <hat, with icgard to reads ami hr.dges Ihe Hon Mr Kail- Jones had Sot a now njvnm, which « as working out and olcanne; his <?-''mati3=. c o that each year ho had a clear sheet before him. In order fo do this ho had had to curtail tho votes, so that each \ otc should be a live and not a dummy one Pie now had the i-ystem clear, and thf>- \ote= were li\<? ones. "The Ministerial party wa-, entertained at a banquet to-night by ihf^ Mayor. The Minister proceeds from Te Karaka to Motu, returning about SptuivLu .vening.

Under '"The Workers' Compensation foi Accidents Act, 190 Q." morigagor? have bad to pay insurance feo? 1 t protect the Advances to Settlers Office against any claims that may bo made on the property on which the office has advanced money. The Hon. C. H. Mills. Minister in charge of the Advances lo Settlers Department, has now made arrangements -whereby the Government Accident Insurance- Department will take a glob© oover over all risks, the annual premium to be paid by the office.