Expenditure on the Otago Central Railway. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2771, 24 April 1907, Page 12

Expenditure on the Otago Central Railway. TO THE EDITOR.

Sin, — At the banquet on the occasion of tho opening of the Otago Central railway to Clyde I was called upon to reply to the toast of '" The Railway." In the course of my remarks I stated that in recent years the expenditure on the construction. of the railway had nev«r exceeded the appropriation, but that thvs eoufd not bo said of some other railways. Before I had finished my speech I was aware that in one year the expenditure 6n the construction of the Otago Central raii wayhad exceeded the appropriation, and I immediately correoted my previous statement. The year in which this excels expenditure took place was 1895-96, when, the appropriation was £25,000 and expenditure £29.176. The Actinsr Prime Minister (the lion. W. Hall-Jones), in his speech took exception in tomewhat strong 1 teims to my remarks, and hating sent foi* some document he quoted from it and wrote for the information of the reporter that the expenditure on construction hatt exceeded the appropriation as follows: — ■

In tho vaar 1893-04 — appro priaticn £45,000. expenditure £46.921; joar 1895-06—appro-priation £25,000, expenditure £29,176;, year 1896-97— appropriation £30,000, expenditure £33.263; year 1902-03--appro-priation £100.000, expenditure £103,278. I felt c ure at tho time tha-t these figures were incorrect, but had not opportunity, or material to justify my saying 6O then. Since my return to Dunedin I havep\- r uninr>il the " Audited Statement of Expenditure on Public Works," to bo foand m Appendix A, attached to the Public Woiks, Statement, and find that MiHall Jones, no doubt misled by the document he had sent for. incorrectly stated the evpendituro for thieo of the years quoted.

EXPENDITmC.

} One can only imagine how the Minister j was led into fhe error, and trust, 'now ! that it is pointed out to him. he will can- • didly admit the mistake. At anyrate, T will send him a copy of this letter and give him the opportunity to do so. I am not going to deny that, so far as Parliament is concerned, the Otago Central railway has latterly i-eceived fair play, the appropriations being all ono could expect, but I cannot say that the expenditure has been equally fair and just. In proof of this I find that from 1887-1890, before the advent of Mr BaJ« ! lance to power, the expenditure on con1 struction v,'aa short of the appropriation* jbv less than £3000 per annum. Durin© I Mr Seddon'3 regime as M'n'Ster of Publio 1 Works the expenditure was 3hort a little 1 over £9000 per annum, and during tho ! time Mr Hall Jones has been Minister 0$ Public Works the expenditure has been short of the appropriations by ovo^ £21,000 per annum. Put in another way: During ray time as a member of the Legislature there has been under-expended of approoriations for the Otago Central railway £286 689, of which! .sum no less than £232.070 has accrued during the period of 11 years for which Mr Hall-Jones has been Minister of Pubho Works Contrast this with the treatment meted out to the Midland railway during these same 11 years, and no man can sa» that even-handed justice has been done. In order that the public may make th« comparison I append the figures.:Otago Central Midland Railway. Railway, Appropriations for 11 years ending March 31 1906 • £705 000 £685,000 Expenditure " - •• 472 880 569,810 Under expended .. -£232.070 £115,190 Had the Otago Central railway received! all the money appropriated by Parliament it would to-day have been beyond Cromwell. Had it only received the same proportion of the appropriations for it tha* the Midland railway has received wo might have been present the other dair at tho opening to Cromwell instead of to Clyde.—l am, etc., -" "'<■', Dunedin, April 6. James Allen.

Messrs Bortbwiek and Sons intend making extensive additions to Waitara freezing works, involving an expenditure of something like £20,000. They intend to add meat tinning works to their freezing iuctuetrj.

1893-94 1895-96 1596-97 3902-03 Appropriation. . . £ 45,000 25.000 . . 30,000 . . 100,000 Mr Hal!- Jones's statement. £ 46,921 29,176 33 263 103,278 The correct figures. £33,060 29,170 25,324, 40,712