PUBLIC WORKS STATE--MENT.

Southland Times, Issue 3579, 10 December 1879, Page 2

PUBLIC WORKS STATE--MENT.

«. . fBT ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.) ' ' By the courtesy of the Government, we have, been placed in possession of the Public Works Statement, which was delivered in the House of Representatives last night, by the Minister of Public Works. The Hob. Richard Oliver, said;— Sir. on the 7th of August my predecessor, Mr Jracandrew, made the Public "Works Statement to this House, in which he shortly summarised the work of the department for the last financial year, but avowedly confined himself to such facts as were in his opinion needed to accompany the application for, the loan then authorised. I sha 1 ! now, by permission of the House, give a brief acconnt of the'progress of our public works up to a more recent ' date, "and then indicate the opinion' of the Government of the course which it is our duty to pursue. " RAILWAYS IN THE NORTH ISLAND. Taking their railways in the geographical order, we begin -nritn the Kawakawa, that being theSnost norfcheVn.' w Hie first section of this line had been commenced, and is bei"g r used in conveying coals from the' mine to the whaif, where the coal is put ( intb barges and , conveyed to ships lying at the deep water anchorage eight miles, below. The first contract "on , the Whangarei-Kamo line is within a _few weeks of completion, and the ' work of plate - laying will be begun *as soon. as possible. .The survey o£ the proposed Helensville-WhangareLJ Railway has > now been .begun, and during the summer the whole of this country will be thoroughly examined. It is expected that the wharf afc ,will be completed in about a month,.which will provide a very necessary accommodation. Between the Riverside and Newmarket work is in progress, along the whole 22 miles, ( aud. should be finished, in aboutjton months. If in the samfe ' time the Newma-vket SJiiuction Station could be. fuustiecl railway communication between Auckland and the Kaipara Waters would be completed. A large reclamation contract is being- carried out. to obtain increased station accommodation ein Auckland; ami a site for /ail way, workshops has .been, bought at Newmarket. The branch line to 'Hamilton has been opened [for traffic,, and in a very short time the southern portion of the Kaiparapanui line will be finished, to within two or three miles of the confiscated bonndary. _ Some . -works are being" carrio i' oi^t 9-rahamstown ' <and Shortland', laudi natives arejem ployed at' piecework on { another section, about ' two miles long, further up the Thames Valley. The .works on. the Napier-Manawata-Raihvay *re being pushed, .on south' of Kopua, and Gi miles, arc -now open if or t traffic -Railway' workshops are being built at Napier. Ninetyfour miles of the Patea-.Manawatu . Railway" are now .open, for traffic, from Fpxton to -Kaibui, nine miles north of Wangauni, and a farther' section of the 1{) miles "is being- constructed. In a,few weeks the Stratford coutract on the Waitara-Jfatea line will be , finished,, and the journey , from -New ' Plymouth to Wanganui will then he aii affair of one day only. .Surveys arc being carefully ? made "north of Carlylc, arid -this Jine, desirable for strategic, autT othsr reasons, 'between Waitara and New Plymouth on the north, and Carlvlc, the, portion of Patea, on the south, ,may be finished' at no , distant, date. The works on the Wellington-Wood-" "ville Railway "in the Wairafapa district are c being pushed 'on -vigorously. The" .contract Having, been aoaudoned, its cbm'pletianis Ijeiug.carried out by' the public works engineers..^ iTheseworksV and the for.maiio'n on "Grey town are so well advanced thafc-tho-line maywb^opeued,-jß)CJtra|g.p as far „as the latter pls»ce early in .Fobruary.f The railway wharf .at Wellington and fjhework-^ shops at Petoni are drawing near compjetion. Machinery "for, the latter' has arrived and vvil shortly be placed iri position, giving facilities for 'repairs" as" well~as v> for' the economical manufacture" "of many, articles at present bdugb't at a highTaW ' Surveys of- the Foxton line arc being proceeded with, and/some work

has been done near Wellington by day labor, over a length of nearly five mile?. . RAILWAYS IH THE MIDDLE ISLAND. The original public works scheme for the; Middle L>land wras furnished in the last finan r " cial year, communication by railway beings established between Chitoehuivh an(Tlnv.er-~ cargill. The western railways in Southland, however, the construction of which was taken over, from the Provincial Government, and some small extensions io the ..GenegaljSo-., vernment lines, are not yet completed. With the exception o£ the Riverton-Orepuki branch these will be^ finished during the financial year. A connection is being Tna'de on the Nelson and Foxbill line with the port atNelsou, and inianil aVextensibn of three miles ff pin* Foxhill is in progress. The Picton-Blenheim line is being carried into the town of Blenheim. The harbor works at Greymouth, which may be regarded as an adjunct .to the railway system, seem, as far as "they have been completed, to answer the purpose for which • they were*, intended. the engineer's report it would seem tiiat pc management of a dredge has materially facilitated the woik, aud reduced the costj o£ these imDi'overaents. The works in progress during the year on the Ainberley -Bluff way consisted chiefly of extension or/ stations, worships at the , large towns, and increased wharfage at Port Chalmers. Large expenditure has been proposed in laying' the^mpn lines with heavier rails, and upon'consiaemtion it seems advisable to do this u atonck- as otherwise, before the present rails could' be lifted, most of them would be so much worn that it would not be worth while to put them on another line. Short extensions are made or are in progress, of the Malvern-Awamoko and Green Island branch lines. The WaipahiTapanui railway contract was undertaken on terms of. payment differing from the usual ones, inasmuch as" no progress payments were, to .be required as the work went on, all'payments- .being . deferred until the time was completed. It was thought the adoption of this method would enable us to definitely extend our system and to obtain such an increase of , price for "Crown lands in the neighborhood of new lines "made under similar conditions as would pay the most of the cost of construction. I , grieve to saj r that these expectations have not been fulfilled. ' The works, pushed on I with t great vigor' for' some time, are now almost entirely suspended, and the con T | tractors have stated their inability to finish their contracts without progress payments being made to them. For, railways authorised ' last year, contracts were let almost to the full extent of the vote.? on nearly all the lines authorised last 3'ear, and id 'several cases the votes were largely exceeded.' 1 Sections were let by piece- woi k .and -day labor at -Weka Pass and Albtiry, in Canterbury and Living* stone branch, nnd Otago Central Railway in Otago, and at Kaiwarra, near Wellington. On all these there are about 2200 men engaged at wages somewhat less than current rates. It f is certain that ttie number will rapidly become , smaller as the summer advances. ' ROADS. , Certain main lines of roads in the North Island are being maintained, such -as the Great Road, Auckland": the Tauronga Taupo Road; the Taupo Napier Road, and some other short lengths of roads in native districts. The Goyernment expenditure on roads and bridges in the Middle Island last year was comparatively small, having been almost confined to Westland and the northern end of the island. - WATBB KACES. Detailed reports up to 30th Jnne o£ Government expenditure in aiding mining enterprise have already been laid before you. From these reports and accounts of receipts to the end of 'the financial' year I 1 find that the colony has spent ■in these undertakings L 387,169, exclusive of L 29.234 2s lid by way of subsidies. Of the former sum L 70.626 5s 3d has been handed over- to the Thames County Pouncil as a grant, with an addition of LIO.OOO from the vote of the curreut, year. It has alsq.been arranged to hand over - the debt of LII.OOO due to the Government^ from the Carrick Water Race Company to the County of Vincent. The total receipts from all water races amount to L15,427~ 7s lOd, exclusive of L 2945 Os 2d, refund of subsidies and interest thereon, bains equivalent to an average of about 1 per cent^per^annani on,- the outlay from the cln.to it fii-et "productive, a very iinsatisfnetory result. Stilly the collateral advantages J are Tae^Jsrelsdn' Crejk andj ,Waimea Races ? worked* by the--GoVei nrrieiit,' wer'e-^b'e'tnekns last y£ar of obtaining 25.800. ounces of gold, and employing about 700 men. > - " ! . QOAL EXPLOBATIOST. , The most important work of this class which has been undertaken during the past year is the examination of coal beds of the Mokau, district by Dr Hector, who reports that Ithe^ coal formation there is of, considerable;exteut,,the outcrops having a wjulth of over two miles, and' stretching from Kawahia Harbor towards tho .upper' part of the Wanganui river. ,Coal seams crop out on the banks of the Mokau- river, varying f ram two feet to six feet in thickness, and the quality is excellent for steam 'purposes* one and a half tons of Mekau coal having been proved ,by Dr Hector, at a trial, to, do as jnncbas two tons of the best Waikato coal . ' In connection with a district in which coal and limestone abound, an extensive deposit of brown hematite has been discovered by, the principal surveyors at Mount Peel, in the Province of i Nelson. ,It is 50 feet wideband has been traced for a distance of over three miles. The coal measures of^heTokoniairiirodistrictuave 'also been examined as regards their relation to auriferous . cements between the Woolshed Creek and Tuapeka, but no 'new mines have ,been opened at Fern,HiJJ, Green Island. The Kawakawa coal mine, at the Bay of Islands, is undergoing developnieutj and the coal N - rapidly acquiring au established , po&ition in the market as a .valuable ' steam coal. A shaft recently sunk" has disclosed the existence of two "seams, four and nine feet thick, superior, quality, and at a greater' depth than * any previously if worked. In the Waikato .coalfields the compay which were working the Kupakupa mine have opened; another mine on the opposite side of the Waikato River, and indications show.au improvement of the_quality of the coal, .while, increasing depth has also been shown by discoveries. The heavy works undertakon_by*thc Westport Colliery Company, for developing the rich coalfields .of the Mount Rpchfort district, aie making rapid progress,, and^u a few* months it is expected that the market will receive a .supply fiom'lhis" source. ' The fuither development of the principal coal mines of the colony hy increasing the facilities for shipment deserve most careful consideration, sis the means of fostering an industry that will afford profitable., employment to 'a number of men, and at the .same time will, obviate the necessity of sending out of the colony a large^Sum of money for the purchase of foreign coal. v " "WOEKING'BAILWAYS. During the first few days' of July, heavy floods occurred in Canterbury and Otago, , doing serious damage 'to' {hemlines, and par- ' tially suspending traffic,'' and causing a heavy outlay, in repairs and renewals. The permanent" way i§ reported ;to be in good workiug order, excepir on' some"- of the branch lin'c3, which, owing 'to the .lightness of the' rails and sleepers * -used in their construction, are seriously impaired. A -very* 'large number of sleepers' have, required remoral"during the last four months, and ie is worthy" of notice that they were chiefly Americazrtimber. These sleepers were ' only imported as an experiment, aud at a. time when the pressure was great, and the local supply wholly inadequate. The traffic' returns for July, August, and September shqiy a " considerable falling off compaied with the . corresponding period la3fc year. No doubt* this is owing to the financial depression, but much may be expected from the grain traffic of .the approaching season, which bids fair to , i be a prosperous one., „A good Jiarvesfc and the revival 6f trade," symptoms;" of which ar,e apparent, would speedily produce happier results. I am*glad'to say that we aic extending' ttie "Use of thY New' Zealand coal on our railways, and af tor*the expiry of existing contracts for the Supply off Auafara.^ fian coal, onr arrangements will enablcus; to dispense, to a large extent; if not altogether,* with imported fuel, and save several thousand pounds a t year." "In the Public Works Statement which was lately made by my predecessor, fuU^ particulars were given of the length of the railways open fdi traffic, the cost of thsir construction, the gross receipts, the working' expenses, aud the cost of maintenance. Considering the headlong andrapid, rate at •' which j, our. raUwaya

have been" constructed ,' the uneunivated land through a large portion, 'or neaily all o? them, paob, aud the Miiallne>s of Our population, it is uo doubt a in itter far congraluirtioa'ihat tbts contribution tow aids* interest on the'eost of construction is so largc.^' > It may, however, be/as well to ascert«tu?^qw tbc accouptTeallxjstaads^ I finrt^toifc^h'c co-t i.f railways, open for traffic -S^-'tfic end of tho last ftn£%s^year N L8,6W,407 Os id, inciiiding L 633.228 Os 4cl for interest to .date ci: opening,- The gtosa. traffic returns amount to LI ,729,955 3o 7d. from which must be deducted L 1,250,797 5s 7d for woiking expenses aud maintenance, leaviug L 479,057 18s for payment of interest on loau, of which the^e .railways were made. Table No ll fij wbich will be* appended to tßis statement"' when printed, shows that for the past year the receipts have been L758,09G Ss 2d, and working expenses L 545,478 15s, showing a surplus of L 212.617 13s 2d. This amount represents 21-54 per' cent- on the aveiage cost of construction, leaving 29-46 per cent to be supplied from other sonrces. Sir, the House will readily believe that New Zealand is a country of such great resources that in the course ol after years even those railways which are now the farthest from paying will become remunerative. In the meantime, however, inhabitants of districts -which have no railways are taxed to pay for them as well as those who inhabit more favored places. How bu:densome this charge has- become was lately shown by my hon. colleague, the Hon. Treasurer, and the duty is plaoel on us of considering how to make our 'railways pay a larger contribution towards the cost by skilful and economical management, aud of submitting all tuture proposals for now railways to the same rigid scrutiny as private iuveistors would make, and firmly rejecting them unless a sliong probability, Qan be shown that they will prore renuriicrative. It must not, however, be forgotten that the demands 'of the public have forced on Government the adoption of a more expensive modc'of constructing railways, aud gi eater Speed in'transit, than wa-. intended at first, thus necessarily interfering with the paying character 'of these undertake ings. No doubt great collateral advautagis are gained by the' construction of railways, bnfc after all the practical test of usefulness really is their being or not being used. If, therefore, it is fouuel that on any railway traffic is so small that great loss results, from its working, it may, I think, be assumed that -either it is badly managed or that being useful only to a few, it ought nob to, have been constructed. To quote from the statement made by my predecessor in 1878:—* - " Difficulty commenced from , the moment when the Legislature repealed that cardinal condition of the public works policy, that in the event of the proceeds of any railway failing to meet interest and sinking fund on the of its construction the property in the district should be rated to; make up its deficiency." The proposal of the' Government, as hon. members know, is to devote the proceeds of sales of land to local arid colonial public works, but if this fund is to be supplemented to any gieat extent by additional borrowing to complete several schemes or railway there is no doubt' in my mind that either those that are ready constructed must be made -to approach more nearly to a paying condition, or else a system of ratiug districts beneficially affected must eventually be resorted'-to Sir, we do not think that the proposals for the various lines of railways which are now in course of construction, have been subjected before their adoption to so close a scrutiny -as their importance demanded." It has, moreover, become apparent that the funds' which will be at our. disposal for the prosecution of these works will prove inadequate to complete them, W.e think that the time has come wheu our whole future policy with regard to public w.orks must be considered, and it is therefore, our intention to ask Parliament for authority to appoint a Eoyal Commission jto make a ; more full and complete investigation into the cost aud economical value of the several works commenced and proposed than it would be possible for the Government unaided to complete before next session of. Parliament. The Government hope, by means of the report of. these comtnis.si jrfers, to be placed in a position to make proposals, to Parliament for the prosecution of public 'works upon a plan carefully adapted to the circumstances of the colony. Our efforts must now, therefore, be earnestly diiected to the economical jaanagement of railways, and amongst other, means "rethink the keeping of the~accounts of the various sections sep.arafe^nd^djstinct, so that it may Ibe seen? syhat eaoli-ij "earning,, a^d spending, y\vijl/has;e the ~good' effect of ■ arauj&ng emulation^ among' the officers asfvtjeU^s of showing, on which of (he lines si "different system of t working should be" adopted. £ '< PKOPOSALS FOB THE FUTURE. •' ' Sir, my predesessor has Had thegratificatiou of proposing and initiating many new works of great .magnitude; to me has fallen the unwelcome task of showing that our resources -are-inadequate to bear the continued strain of so rapidly constructing these expensive works. Believing that v *o be the case, we do not intend to ask for authority to begin many new works. The funds at our disposal for the next few years will -be only sufficient to meet the necessary 1 requirements 'for miscellaneous public works already authorised, at a rate proportionate Mp .ojWr^esources, and to a point at which they wilTbe of real usejto the community. Our position is briefly this : In respect of the L 5,000,000 loan, and the balance of Lsl7,l2o,*'iucluding credits, with which we began the year, the positive' en? gagements on contracts entered into and liabilities which must be met, together, with the expenditure already made during the current year, will absorb L 3,800,865, including L 1,210,802 for land purchases and L 154,700 payable to counties in the provincial districts of Canterbury and Otago in- respect of stoppages from the smplus x land Revenue of the Districts, I£ finished _ in the" stipulated time these works 'will .require^ L 2,559,082 of this amount to be paid before the 20th June next, and the remainder of the liabilities, excepting a portion of those for land purchases^ within the following year. ' 'The balance, therefore, which is available out of the new .loan is L 1,872,646, and the only method of adding to this for public works, in addition to receipts from land sales, is by diverting to this purpose'a sum from one of the other objects tor which . the loan ' was authorised. I have stated generally our intentions, and the principles which' we believe must guide our | proposals. Whatever may be the opinion of the House as to the expediency of the course which we propose, that course must to a large extent be guided by circumstances which we cannot control. It is my duty to inform the House that the understanding on 'which the loan agents ore likely to obtain. thsLs,ooo,ooo loau is such as will preclude our going upon the English money market for further loans for a perjo'd of three years. It is imperative, therefore, in the interests of set dement, that the expenditure of this loan should be judiciously sprea"d over that period. Our proposals for ] expenditure will bp in detail before you. I regret to state that although an earnest endeavor, has been ' 'made .to keep the ."estimates within a f^asonaDle compass' they reach a 'very much larger sum than hon. members will expect. . It" will be seen, however, that no less a sum than L 2,356,729 7s 'in our estimates is 'for liabilities which -we found in existence upon our assumption* of office, and a large portion' of the remainder is for works which are necessary to make available those sections .already; in course' of construction. However much we have desired to contract rthe large expenditure 'to which the colony is committed, weliave felt bound to' ask; for ap« propriatioatf wbick-we are advised vnil be required '.fpr. the, above purpose, but should .Parliament agree' to our proposals it will be our auxious .endeavor tq limit the actual expenditure the current year considerably within the amount of the "vote. I will proceed, sir, to briefly indicate the principal works intended to be carried" out' during the current year : — Railways : At Kawakawa arip'ther section is nearly ready for tendering, and it'is proposed to go On' immediately with the works, their prosecution being aa. obligation imposed on the Government under aa agreement between the^Sup"errafcendent of Auckland and the, proprietors of the Kawakawa'Coalmine/ratified by an Act of the Jgeneral^ Assembly^ Jhe^ jjropriefcors under agre^mehC^eing^ bottttd"^ r tS^pay'~6'°pke cent on tbe-cosr. ' Irrespective of the^agfreemerir, however, this wcwk.wouldjpe a verydesirable one^ developing^as % ,one of the mo3t important; coalfields in the colony. For the line f ram -WhangarW to Kamo, plans have been prepared for the second section, extending into daep water, and tenders will soon be called for. Kaipara to Panui — the whole of this i work is „ now -under contract, with the exception of a station a.tNijwui'a.rke.s Junction,