NEGLECTED OTAGO

Otago Witness, Issue 2801, 20 November 1907, Page 89

NEGLECTED OTAGO

1 m QUESTION OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE. f AVOTJRITISM TO OTHER DIS< TRICKS. (Fbok Ottb Owh Cobbespohdsnt.) WELLINGTON, November 12. One of the ablest speeches made in the Interests of Otago was that delivered last evening on the Public Works Statement fcry Mr James Allen, I!he member for Bruce. Jir Allen bad evidently gone to a lot of trouble, in getting up his facts and figures, and his speech made an impression. Mr Allen had intended criticising the delay in proceeding with the irrigation scheme for Central Otago, but the Prime Minister's announcement that he was going to give Parliament an opportunity of. voting £100,000 for that purpose dinned his criticism. In this, . eaid Mr Allen, the Prime Minister is not only doing what is right, but he is ' also fulfilling a solemn 'promise and pledge made on the eve of the last election, which won the Right Hon. the. Prime v Minister probably two •seats.- That promise ha? to be fulfilled, "end I, as an Otago idember will do my beet to see that'll is fulfilled. Every member in the House ought to see that it is fulfilled. It was made on the eve of the -©lection, and must be fulfilled not only for that reason, but because it is the rignt of Central' Otago that some money should be expended there in order to make that country fertile, and I have no doubt that irrigation will make it fertile and tend to the advantage of the railway revenue there. There is only £3000 proposed to be voted on the Estimates for irrigation, but the Prime Minister's conscience has struck 1 him. The Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward: No, it has not. Mr J. Allen : Well, something has 6truck him. Mr T. Mackenzie: A good idea has struck him. Mr J. Allen : Well, "let us cay that, and he is going to raise £100.000 and make provision for expending a large portion of it on Central Otago irrigation works at once. I shall not extend my criticism of the irrigation scheme any farther just now. Then I am grateful to lihe Government for having met a long-standing claim of the Otago members in regard to the Mining School. I . admit that that ie a proper thing to do, and that it has done what is right. But it must not expect that because it has done this I shall be eilent in regard to other things which I know to be wrong. After some remarks about the under- ' expenditure of the votes for road* and bridges, development of goldfields, eto., Mr ' Allen prooeeded. to refer to the enormous increase in the expenditure of our pubho works money on public buildings. It had risen in 10 years from £70.000 to £227,000, and he oouid not help saying that although one of the principal buildings was in the « district he lived in— he referred to the Railway Station in Dunedin,— it was a waate of public money. "Though I live tfiere," he continued. "I say that that Railway Station could have been built equally as convenient, and quite as beautiful, too, with a great deal less money, and the same kind of thing hae been going on elsewhere. Ab to the Tourist and Health Resorts Department, the increase 5n expenditure during five years out of the public works vote has been-from £11,000 to £42,000, and I toy it ie quite out of toand and it ia time the Minister took it m hand and gftve •ome further justification to Parliament th*n simoly coming here and saying, " You will pass all, these things. You will not reduce an item." An Hon. Member: Neither will you. Mr Allen r No, the hon. gentleman has a 'following that will carry through every vote. It is not our responsibility; it is his and theirs. All we can do is to voice our protest against theee large increases— not for railways and roads,— l do not object to them, but for the other item to •which I have referred. Now, one word with regard to this public works expenditure as a whole. It has risen in 10 years Irom £659,836 to £2,035,000— a very heavy increase. The colony is prosperous, and maybe we can bear it. I am not saying we •cannot. These are prosperous times, and 1 'do not want to be pessimistic in the slightest degree, but I say at the same time that no man with a feeling of responsibility as a member can sit quiet and see this rice going on, and know that a oertain portion of the money that is being expended is not being expended on works which will be revenue-producing, or which wilt Bo Of equal benefit to the country, but is being expended in a young Dominion . like this more or less upon luxuries. Now, I am sorry I shall have to leave the .general question of the Public Works Statement, and come down to more parochial oonoerns— to the question of our own district of Otago. I do not like to do it, but wt anyone examine these Estimates, and .whether he is an Qtago man or not. he cannot get up from that examination without feeling, es I <feel, what a gross injustice has been dealt out to this district. I spteak Gbronffly, and th© Right Hon. the Pnime Minister knowa I speak strongly. I have told (him about this injustice already, and I hope what I have said to him has had some Ifcffect in bringing about the announcement to-night with regard to the sum proposed for irrigation- I admit there are some 4bings efttiafaotory to us, and I do not include in nay criticism the expenditure (Upon the duplication of the Dunedin-Mos-Kiel line, for the -reason that that is absoutftly necessary. Let up take roads and Iniages in Obago, end if any Otago man jexamines these roads and bridges votes land expenditure, or any other man, no matter what side of the House .he ie on or ,iVrhat part of the Dominion he comes from, fie will admit that the criticism I am about So level against the public works proposals 5n Otafro ie justifiable. With regard to roads &nd bridges, there fe a curious way pf dealing with all these votes. Some of $hem get the full expenditure of the amount voted, others more than the vote, while jbtihezs <k> not K e * 5 P® r cent, of the sum voted. 1 have carefully taken out the percentages of the money expended in all itbe xoa4 distriotß throughout the Dominion for the year 1906-07, which I will quote for the- Information of hon. gentlemen. The •Auckland road distr{ot got 64 per cent, of She vote for 1906-0? expended} Te- Kurto, .68 ytor cent. ; Rotorua, 62 per cent. ; pawke's Bay, 68 ?>er cent. ; 'IWanaki, 60 per cent. ; Wapgamri road district got 108 Eer cent. ; the Weilin«ton road dMriot, 52 frfer cent; Nejeon, 57 per g§js.y W»ir*u,

46 per cent. ; Westland, 58 per cent, j Canterbury, 58 per cent. ; Otago, 46 per cent. ; and Southland, 60 per cent. Only 46 per cent, of the money voted for Otago and Marlborough has been expended, whilst in Wanganui 108 per cent, has been aot-ually expended, being 8 per cent, more than the whole vote. May I ask hon. members if that is fair?. I— — The Prime Minister : Don't talk so lou.d. Mr Allen: I am talking loud because I feel very strongly. I ask the hon. gentleman, Can any reasonable man deny it? I say that nobody can deny it, because it is a jttoss injustice. Look at the expenditures which I have just quoted, and where is the man who will say that that is a fair state of things? What I am talking about is the total items, not the votes themselves. I haye referred to the percentage of expenditure in Maryborough and Otago being only 46 per cent, for the rear 1906-7, whilst Wanganui had actually 108 per oent. expended, being, as I have said, 8 per cent, in excess of the moneys voted by Parliament. Surely this is wrong. Will hon. members compare the differences? Now, let us see what there is in the proposals for this year. Again Otago is far worse off than any other road district. Auckland, Te Kuiti, Hawke's Bay. and Tara-

naki - all show an increase. Rotorua remains just as it was, and Otago shows a decrease of no less a sum than £14,776, being a decrease of 33 per cent, on rtte 1906-7 vote, and, sir, I must remind hon. members that the total decrease on all the roads throughout the Dominion is only £33,000, or a little over 6 per cent, of the sum voted the year before. Yet Otago is decreased by 33 per cent., or, in other words, there is a decrease in the total votes for roads of £33,000, and out of that decrease Otago has to bear the brunt of the whole to the extent of £14,776, being close on one-half of the total decrease throughout the Dominion. Sir, in every instance, in whatever way you like to look at it, with regard to roads. Otago has great injustice meted out to ifc. I have said sufficient about roads. At anyrate I have shown that Otago has been unfairly dealt with from every point of view, both with regard to the new votes and with regard to the percentage of the previous year's expenditure. Now I wish to say a word about the railways-. I know that some of our Otago people have been too generous to the Government, and the Government has taken advantage of that generosity. The hon. gentleman knows whom I refer to, and the paper that gentleman is connected with. It is perfectly true that come people in Otago did make certain references with regard to the railway expenditure, and advantage has been taken of it, and the total vote to Otago has been cut down every year since. It was cut down j to £90,000 last year, and it ie cut down to ' £70.000 this year, and I say that no man in Otago can dare to be generous to the Government again. Tha gentleman who was so generous •to ■ the Government and who by his paper supported that generous feeling. I venture to say r . will never be generous again, because he knows that his district will suffer in consequence. The railway vote for Otago ha- 5 ? been cut down from £140,000 to £90,000, and now to £72.000, and the hon. gentlemen who sit opposite will assist in that being done. Now, I want to say something about th© expenditure on railways during the preceding year to this. The Right Hon. Sir J. G .Ward: Giv« us something sensible now. Mr Allen : The hon. gentleman know* that what I am saying is sensible enough, and Otago will «ay that it is. The hon. p-enileman has time to rectify the wrong that has been done. There are the Supplementary Estimates to come down, and they include* both votes from the Consolidated Fund and the Public Works Fund, and if . M injustice has been done, as there has been, the hon. gentleman has time to rectify it. I aek him to do what is fair to the gentleman who, by his generosity, allowed this to take place. Put him right ' -writh-the public and put us right with the I PU The C ' Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward: That's 1 not fair. . _ . i Mr Allen: It is not fair to him. It is unfair to take advembage of his generous feelingß. Now, with regard to* he rail- ! way expenditure, the sum of £02,000 was over-expended on the Marton-Te Awamutu line. I do not object to that. It is a f national work, and should be Rone on 1 with. I do not say anything against that, ! although it is a very big amount. The i vote was exceeded by £2258 for the Egmont •branch, by £1276 for the Blenbeim-Wai-para railway, by £29,642 for the Midland, by £1596 for the Ngahere-Blaokball, and Lby £1628 for the Groymouth-Hokitika ra.ilf way ; and the Otago Central, instead of I Qiavinsr exceeded its vote, was »hort of its vote by £11,726. Is it fair? That ia one i-year- There ia this different treatmen* meted out to theso railways, and the people must know the reason why. The Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward: The work was finished. You could not spend any more. Mr Allen: Oh. no. The West Coast railways we going on. In 1906-07 there wav voted for the Midland railway, the West-port-Inangahua line, the Ngahere-Blackball Una, end the Greymouth-Hokitika lino £140.000, and there was expended £171,041— or 122 per cent, of the vote was spent on ' these railways. Why were these votes exceeded? The Otago Central, the LawrenceRoxburgh, tha Catlins-Waimahaka, and the Riversdale-Switaers railways had £98,000 j voted, and only £75,929 expended— or 77 j <per cent. In the one instance 122 per cent, was expended, and in our case 77 per cent. Why was there this difference? Is it fa<'r . treatment? I put that question to the lion, gentleman, and I put it to the Hou«e. Then, in order that I may not do an injustico by dealing with only one year, and i 6et up a faLe criticism in that respect, I have the details for the Last three rears, and for the last throe years tho Otago railways had 66 per cent, of their votes expended, and these West Coast railways 109 per cent. That is the expenditure over 4.hree years, not one year. This year you find a still further reduction, for the vote for Otago railways goes down to £70,000, and lfhie others above referred to to £105,000. Sir, there were some other things I moant j to say- I have a word or two to say about the new money for roads and bridjjca . I admit it i« a very difficult thing indeed to get from these Estimates a fair idea of what new money there is, and I had not time to go over more than a couple of districts, but I have gone over -there for tlie purpose of making a comparison. I have selected two districts dovrn in my own part of tho country— the Otago road district and the Southland road diatnefc. I find that the new money m Otago, both for • Sidinajj rpad«, tourists' road*, and minst'

roads, comes to £7773 on trie Estimates this year — or only 26 per cent, of the vote is new money. In the Southland road district the new money is £15,850, or 54 per cent. Might I ask why this difference i« made? Why in the one case is there only 26 per cent, of the vote new money? Why was not the money expended prior toMarch 31? The Right Hon. Sir J. G. Because there -was delay somewhere.

Mr Allen : Ido not attribute the delay to the local bodies. The delay is in the authorisations in the Cabinet. That is where the delay is. The Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward: That is not so.

Mr Allen: I think it is. The Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward: You are too pessimistic. Mr Allen : I am nor pessimistic a,t all. I want to see justice done — at anyrate, to the district I come from,— and I hope the Prim© Minister will a«ree to do justice to it in the Supplementary Estimates. Mr W. Fraser, in trie oourse of his speech, stated that Mr Hall-Jones, after receiving a deputation that asked him to extend the "railway beyond Clyde, admitted that he bad never in his life been move impressed with the earnestness of the people who had laid their demands before .him. If come hon. gentlemen had been there on that occasion they wotild not speak against that railway as he had heard them doing. The people above Clyde, as . far up as Wanaka and Hawea, had lived for 30 year* in the hope of seeing that line coming to them, but now even the hope was to be denied. He complained strongly about the message now conveyed to these people in the Statement. He felt extremely indignant, .and he had a right to feel indignant, There was a callous indefiniteness about the paragraph in the statement. It would nave been better far to say at once that the line was going to stop at Clyde, and that thp Government would not recommend Parliament to conetruot another foot of the line further on. The people would then know where they stood, and would not be living away up there in the hope of the line reaching them. He hoped the Prim© Minister would yet give a more definite statement about the line and iis prospects. The delay should not exceed one year. Every penny of the £10,000 on the Estimates would be required for existing liabilities, and not for continuing the line. What was the reason for the delay? Was it because the Government thought the line would not pay? Did any lines in New Zealand pay? They knew they did not — i.e., that they did not pay directly, though, they paid indirectly. No one would cay the Midland railway would pay, but they had undertaken to give £600,000 to cut a tunnel through the Southern Alps, while they could not find a few thousand to keep the hearts of these people alive with the hope that the Otago Central line was going on. He was getting rather tired of all the tajk about subordinating everything to the Main Trunk line, which was the xesult of agitation in the cities. The true railway policy of the past should have been the construction of railways, fan-like, into the interior from the principal ports, instead of which, they had been spending all their available funds in linking cities together ; but it was too late to talk about that now, and he maintained that the conetruction of the Otago Central line must go on. Until this was done the settlers would not cease to agitate and to bring pressure to bear on the Government to get the. line started again and taken up to Hawea. Unless something was done, the young m«n up there would leave for more favoured districts, and the whole of that country would revert to a mere sheep -walk. As to irrigation, 'the money on this year's Estimates was so small that it might as well be taken off. " I know," continued Mr Fraser, " that I am talking to deaf eara on this question To many persons it is considered a mere fad, but I assert that it is the life blood of many districts, and that, if given effect to, it will turn the arid plains into feVtile fields and happy homes." If the £100,000 which it was proposed to spend next year had been spent 10 years ago it would, have been worth a million to-day. They could only live in hope, and, of -course, they knew that next year there was more hope that something reasonable would be done, because it would be the session before the elections. In regard to roads and bridges, he pointed out in conclusion that two-thirds of the vo+es this year were simply the balances of votO3 passed last year and carried fo'-.'.vard after March 31 and revived on the Eitiaiateo,