COST LIMITED

Southland Times, Issue 19291, 9 July 1924, Page 5

COST LIMITED

RAILWAY INVESTIGATION THE BRITISH EXPERTS MINISTERIAL STATEMENT. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, July 8. In the House of Representatives this afternoon, replying to Mr G. Forbes, Hon. G. J. Coates said that the Government had made definite arrangements with English experts to report on the New Zealand Railways and it had also been agreed with the experts that cost of investigation would not exceed £6OOO. BILL FOR £14,000. COST OF RAILWAY EXPERTS. The inquiry by the two railway experts, Sir Sam Fay and Sir Vincent Raven (who are to come to New Zealand on a similar mission), into the management of the New South Wales railways, is likely to cost the State about £14,000. It has been ascertained, says a Sydney paper, that when the Government arranged for the experts to go to Sydney from England it was agreed that they should be paid set fees, and that it was to be left to the experts as to the length of time they remained here. The fees agreed on were as follows: —-Sir Sam Fay, £6000; Sir Vincent Raven, £3000; Mr C. Travis, secretary to the Commission, £1000; Mr J. A. Warren, secretary to Sir Vincent Raven, £500: A son of Sir Sam Fay is also acting as secretary to his father, but he is receiving no fee from the State. The State also agreed to pay the fares from England and back, of the five members of ihe Comission and the fixing of the amount of travelling allowances was left over for settlement when the commissioners had begun their work. In political circles, it is estimated that with the £10,500 to be paid the experts in fees, the cost to the State of the inquiry will be fully £14,000. “However, it will be money well spent,” commented a prominent Government official. “It will appease the public and remove some of the grievances which now exist concerning the management of the railways.”