IMPREST SUPPLY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11126, 27 July 1907, Page 1

IMPREST SUPPLY.

THE PREMIER'S DEFENCE OF RAILWAY DEPARTMENT. (From our Parliamentary Reporter.)' WELLINGTON, this day. The introduction of the Imprest Supply Bill affords the utmost facility for general discussion upon political points all round the compass.. Yesterday afternoon, on the bringing down of the first Imprest Supply Bill of the session, was no exception to the rule.. Mr Herries referred particularly to railways. He declared that had this Department properly managed the buoyancy of revenue boasted jn the Budget would lave been greater than it was. He complained that there was no indication of any great effort being made to increase the rolling v st<gck, and charged the Department with) short-sightedness m this* respect. He was quite sure that if the Premier asked for £600,000 for more roll^ ing stock the House would gladly grant it. As to railways generally, he complained that the net profit on the capital invested showed a very small increase dur. ing the past seven years, wliile the net earnings per train mile had decreased from 32.69 m 1900 to 28.79 m 1906. Sir Joseph Ward, m reply, dealt first with Mr Hemes' complaint about rollings stock. Hei said he thought it would be found that most of his alleged facts were quite astray. He (Sir Joseph) gave figures to show the great development wliich liad taken place m railway traffic since 1895, and the effort made by tlie Government to cope with the same. Since 1895 129 locomotives and 168 passenger cars had been added to the rolling stock, and he showed how the extra' demands m other respects had been met by increases up to 100 per cent. The haulage m the South was much, shorter than m the North, and it was quite futile to try and strike a general average over the colony, as had been advocated. Certain Ideal rates were m operation on all sections to meet particular cases, but the statement that differentiation operated differently m tlie North and South was quite correct. Again, Mr Herries' statement of the earning capacity of the railways was incorrect. The earnings per train mile m 1900 were 9s 3d. In 1907 it was still the same, despite the fact that wages, etc., had greatly increased. He deprecated the attempt to raise a feeling of North versus South. They had to rcoghise tliat railways were of vital consequence to all classes oi! the communtiy. The co-operative system had on the whole been a good thing for the colony having prevented an excess of labor. In con : elusion the Premier declared the 'working of New Zealand railways were second to none m the world, and liad been. of great and lasting good to the country. Mr Herries denied that he had any desire to raise the question of. North v. South. The leader of the Opposition disagreed with tlie Premier's^ statement 'that the earning capacity of the North Island lines would decrease as the lines progressed, but declared it would increase. If, as the Premier' had said, the co-operative system wag a success, how was it that the large works were being let., by contract nowadays? Ceruunly the system was better than it was m past years, but there was 6till room for great improvement. He went on to criticise the working of the Valuation Department, and several matters of minor importance. . ■ . Mr Fisher attacked the system of audit : m operation m the Government departments. He did not suggest that anything i improper was being, done, buo one audit. ( was defective. There should be a subse-^ i quent check. " ' The {debate was carried on throughout < the whole evening, mostly by the Qppqsi- i tion, and centred mainly round! the Rail- 1 way Department. , Tlie Premier replied at 10.30, when, j among other things, lie dealt with the j oomplaint of shortage of railway trucks j for Auckland coal mines; declaring it was ■ not tlie business of the Railway Depart- j ment to supply trucks for storage accom- ; modation, andi-he trouble arose through i the coal Companies' neglect to provide ■ proper appliances. He gave, an unquali- ; fled denial to the statement that instruc- 1 tions had" been issued' by valuation officers j oi! the colony to increase valuation. It i was a fact that land valuations had been ] increased m late years, owing to the fact ( that valuations of previous years had \ been too low, and tliat the earning power of the country had increased. 1 Th© Imprest Supply Bill was advanced ] a few stages when Mr Alison continued j the debate, defending the Taupiri Coal ] Company, of whicli li© is chairman of , directors. He declared there was not sufficient haulage power, and if storage , bins were erected, it would cost the con- ] sumers an additional 3s 6d per ton. l'he .; Bill, which makes provision for payment of £623,000, passed the final stages, and the House rose at midnight.