The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1908. THE CRAZE OF EXTRAVAGANCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 5681, 16 June 1908, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1908. THE CRAZE OF EXTRAVAGANCE.

Every visitor to Dunedin expresses astonishment at the splendour and magnificence of the iiailway station there. A tourist who had travelled the wor.d recently said tlui/t. in all his i travels he had not s/Hm anupre beautiful railway station, aml iVim it is remembered that this has boon tpiilt with borrowed money no One can deny that if, is reckioss ‘expenditure. Amongst those who have publicly commented on the shocking extravagance exhibited in this connection, is Mr R. R. Martin, organising secretary of the New Zealand Political Reform League, who in one of his speeches said the station, cost £BO,OOO. , Sir Joseph Ward ' denied ' this, but thb following letter wliieh ‘afppeared in last Saturday’s Press settles that point: — “ Sir,—My attention has been drawn ‘ to your report of the recent speech ‘' delivered by the .Prime Minister in “ Christchurch, in which ho refers to “ a statement made ‘ by mo that the “ ne,w Dunedin railway station had “ been erected at a cost approximating “to £BO,OOO. Sir Joseph Ward, in “ reply to this, stales ‘As a matter “ of fact the station cost, complete, “ £11,2-11 13/3.’ and ho -wanted to “ know why that statement had been “ converted, into £BO,OOO. ,1 accordiugv “ ly looked up the tiles of the Otago “ Daily Times,, and in the issue of “ November 13th, 1905, (hero appears “ a report of Sir Joseph Ward's speech “ at (he opening of the Dunedin sta- : “ tion, in which he stated that the “ cost had been as follows - ; £ “Cost of buildings 38,000] “ Foundations 5,000 u Platform and accessories ... 12,000 “Station yard v 15,500 “Pneumatic, interlocking, electric lighting, and telephone 18,500 “ Land, reclamation, roads, drain - , etc 21,000 “ Miscellaneous ,7,000

“ Making a total of £120,000 “Further comment is. I think, su- “ j)orlliious.—‘Yours, etc., R. R. Mar- “ tin. Organising Secretary, New Zca- •‘ land Political Reform League’. Dun- “ cclin, 11th June, 1905.” We wonder how will Sir Joseph foci when lie sees this Icttdr. It is a clean “howl out.” When Sir J. G. Ward was opening the Dunedin railway (station he wanted' to show the Dunedin people the large amount of money.'expended in their’i jiiidst, ■ He then told them the truth ; ; he told them the railway station cost £120,000. Now, however, when he finds people condemning such, .outrageous extravagance ' lie trios do hide his delinquencies by stating, as he did in his Christ church speech, that the station cost only £11,211 13/3. As Mr Marlin

says, further comment is superfluous. Sir J. G. Ward’s adifiirers will no doubt wear a puzzled look when trying to reconcile the two statements. One of them must lie inaccurate.

It is not, however, with Sir J. (5. Ward s - a\-curacy or inaccuracy we wish to deal. What wc want to direct attention to is the awful, terrible, extravagance of spending ,0100,000 on a single railway station, more especially when that money, had to bo borrowed outside the country. What does it mean? It means that we must send to London every year .0-1000 worth of goods to )>ay the interest on the cost of this railway, station,, by ‘25 years we shall have.sent ,0100,(100 i’u iaton-st to the English money-lenders, ami still we shall owe the ;0100,000- lion owed, and i-n 100 years this station will-have cost tin! country exactly half a million of money. That is thw terrible, awful, disastrous consequences which Sir -I. (i. Ward'd iscattcr-cash policy is bringing on ns, but the worst of it all is that the same reckless tM i a’agamic is going on all over the dominion. In Auckland, according to pi-! fished reports, a railway station whan Will cii-t CSO.OOO i- in the c. ursc of erection, but no doubt that sum will bo nearly doubled by the -. me ,i is completed. Ju Hotorua piii.-lic baths aiv being erected at a cost of j bu.uut) or T7l),t)()l). in Wellington a pe.-( olllee and several other uniat ml ‘.mildings are going up, and they, too, will cost enormous sums.

Now in all probability some ni these ljnil(lin)LC--> are required, end con-eqtient-ly sonic of tin- expenditure may be justifiable amt necessary expenditure. WluiL, vve object lo is eorLT'ous ornamentations, ulrh-h are of no possible use, toe-ether -with buildine n couple of Imndred of years ahead of tint lime. People could walk as comfortably on a concrete floor us they, cun cn lessalaleil tile-work, and plain clean wall--would do just .as well ns wnljs inlaid with Mosaic ornamentations, such as ran be sent in the Dunedin railway station.

Now the' Opposition put all this down ti> corrupt motives. They say the object is to buy voles. There may be smite element of (ruth in it. but in our opinion it is traceable to the over we: nine vanity of Sir d. C. Ward A [rlanee at his performances yiliterally supports this theory. lie has taken to himself every title, and every dm tinetion that he could tfet ; he has eh it nyd the ilesl-eimi'nm of the eounCrv from colony to dominion, mem Decs of Parliament front M.M.R. to M.P.. barristers to Iviny’s Counsels. Colonial Secretary to Minister of '\n (elior. Colonial Treasurer to Minister of Pinaner. and so on. lb’ seems in have a cra/e for h'mh soimdiim titles, find a part of this erti/e is the expenditure of money on ornamental huildiues. lie a pes a ( inlrodneine the artistic and the esthetie elements into our hn ild i li'.e;, and it is to this we obje.-t, for lie- simple reason t)mt we cannot afford it Me have no me.rnof pM.vlne- fl U" it. eXCe p ! Willi IIOITIIW e. I momw, and that means impoverishment and rum. Cur public debt is to! I ine no to the enocmmi sum ot l7n.unit.(Hill, and in view ~f that vv.e.amiot aliord Pi 1.-oeh mmi''V on ar I is-tie and esthetic lu.vurie who.- on) us!)'is to pieiv-c (he ev e.