UNCOMPLETED LINES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20503, 22 August 1936, Page 6

UNCOMPLETED LINES

PAST AND FUTURE EXPENDITURE By Teleernnh P»*w Association WELLINGTON, August 20 Replying to the Leader of the Opposition (Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) who said the House and the country should be supplied with an estimate of the financial return that would come from railway lines the completion of which the Government was undertaking, the Hon. R. Semple, in the House to-day, said the position of the uncompleted lines was investigated before anything was done and reports were submitted to the Government. He was prepared to lay those reports on the table of the House. Referring to the Gisborne line he said £3,565.000 had been spent on the line on which interest amounted to £1,484.000. It was estimated that the completion would cost £1,593,000, and the Government had to decide whether it should continue that dead weight or whether it should complete the line in a hope it might be an asset of some value to posterity. The line would serve some first-class land and there were developmental possibilities. Referring to the South Island main trunk line Mr Semple said that £535,000 had been spent. Interest amounted to £134.100. The estimated cost of completion was £2,300,000. There was a possible loss he believed of £40.000, but the figures submitted to him took into account running costs only. There were other factors which would probably reduce that figure considerably, and the Cabinet considered it far better to go ahead with the possibility of increased returns in future than to carry the interest burden for many years. Regarding the Westport line, the total spent was £627.000. Interest was £287.100. and the estimated cost of completion was £750.000. He did not know the estimated loss. Coming to the Dargaville line. Mr Semple said that £444.000 had been spent. Interest amounted to £22.000. and the estimated cost of completion was £60.000. His own personal opinion was that the line should be completed, but he could not commit the Government. Interest charges amounted to more than £1,000.000. and they had to be turned into services that might one day be profitable. From the New Zealand viewpoint few lines paid at the outset. 'When highways were built they were not expected to pay, but they were a service the country must have.