SEVEN CLASSES PASSED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20890, 20 November 1937, Page 22

SEVEN CLASSES PASSED

DEBATE ON THE ESTIMATES HIGH COST OF RAILWAYS PAYMENTS FOR JURIES By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, November 19. The House of Representatives met at 10.30 a.m. On the motion of the Prime Minister, urgency was granted the passing of seven classes of the estimates.

Discussing the vote of £9842 of the Electoral Department, the Leader of the Opposition (Hon. A. Hamilton) said that under the recommendation of the Electoral Boundaries Commission, the South Island lost a seat to the North Island. The readjustment of the electoral boundaries in the South Island left some huge electorates as far as area was concerned, and an average of 380 more electors than the North Island. He thought it would be fair if the law had been such as to have left the seat in the South Island.

Discussing the printing and stationery department vote of £238.000, Mr H. S. S. Kyle referred to the question of overtime and meal allowances, which increased from £3OOO to £6OOO, and said the Government should not be paying so much in overtime when young men were on sustenance. Mr S. G. Holland asked why the present Government printer had been appointed to the position from another department, while senior officers in the Planting Department could not get into other departments. Mr C. H. Chapman regretted that it had been found necessary to appoint an accountant to the position of Government printer, instead of a practical printer, and he considered the Government printer and some of the other officers should be paid more than they were at present.

The Minister in charge of the department (Hon. P. C. Webb) said an additional 130 men had been employed, and it was definitely impossible to get any more into the present building. Plans for a new building were almost complete, and he hoped to get it started next year. The new building would be quite sufficient for present requirements and future expansion. The Government printer had been appointed by the Public Service Commissioner, aftqf all the applications had been considered, and was doing excellent work. It would be of value to have B man with a knowledge of all

branches of printing, but it was also essential to have a man with a trained business mind. The vote was passed, and the House proceeded to the consideration of the Mines Department vote, of £44,000. Alluvial Deposits Mr W. A. Bodkin asked if the Government was doing anything in the direction of exploring deep level alluvial deposits. The Minister of Mines (Hon. P. C. Webb) stated that no Government had done so much in the direction of organised prospecting as the present administration. They had, however, 1500 men fewer on prospecting to-day than previously, and he hoped that the number would be still further reduced, because the Government wished to discourage a haphazard type of prospecting, sometimes over ground that had already been thoroughly prospected, and also wanted to protect the public from “dummies” that should never have been started. The Government wishes to have discontinued the practice of prospectors going over ground prospected 50 or 60 years ago. “No effort of ours to-day had disproved the work of those old miners. They knew more about gold than ever we could hope to learn.” However, Mr Webb stressed the fact that he was very keen on the discovery of gold, and would do everything in his power to assist it.

The next vote to be considered was £333,040 for the State Coal Mines Account.

In reply to questions, Mr Webb stated that the State coal mines had increased the price of coal to the people less than any other mines, but despite that fact they were showing a profit of over £14,000. The vote was passed.

The House was just beginning the consideration of a vote of £7,687,967 when the adjournment at 1 p.m. interrupted the debate.

Speed of Kail Cars When the House resumed at 2.30 the debate on the working railways account of £7,687,967 was continued. Mr H. S. S. Kyle (Nat., Riccarton) said that the loss on the railways last year was £1,405,000, and this year it looked as if it would be £1.700,000. This was interesting in view of the changed system of management in the railways, and should convince the Government that there was something to be said in favour of the old management. He criticised the speed at which the rail cars travelled, and said that several people whom he knew would not enter a rail car because of their high speeds.

Mr B. Roberts (Lab., Wairarapa) congratulated the Minister on the introduction of rail cars, which had conferred a great benefit on many communities.

Col. J. Hargest (Nat., Awarua) pointed out that there had been a great many more railway accidents in the last two years than there had been before, although he did not think these were caused by the State of the rolling stock. He drew attention to the increase in the estimates for railway buildings which, he said, was alarming. The Minister of Railways (Hon. D. G. Sullivan) referring to the criticism of the rail cars, said that these were exceedingly popular, and also were very profitable so far as the Department was concerned. The difficulty was to

get enough of them to meet the demand.. As the Department secured an increased number of rail cars, it would be able to do away with more mixed freight trains. Road services were proving quite profitable, he said, and he asked members to differentiate between natural charges which were incurred by the department and those imposed upon it by Parliament this year. The nett revenue of the railways was down by £147,000, compared with the previous year, while costs had increased by £517,000. Of the latter sum, Parliamentary action had been responsible for £431,000 of the cost for increased wages, reduced hours, etc. Cost of Fuel The Minister drew the attention of the increase of £78,000 in the cost of fuel for the railways, purchase of road services, installation of new sidings and various improvements at a cost of £12,000. With regard to road services, the profit on these last year was £5OOO and this year it would be £27,000. The actual increase in the cost of all railway services, apart from wages, hours, etc., was about £244.000 and for that increase the service had carried 1,000,000 extra passengers, and 500,000 tons of extra goods.

In reply to a question by Mr Smith the Minister said that he had been informed that the night rail car service between Wellington and New Plymouth would be in operation by April. He

also promised that an effort would be made to speed up the express service between Wellington and New Plymouth, and to provide improved accommodation on that trip. The Leader of the Opposition (Hon. Adam Hamilton) said that the Minister’s explanation of increased expenditure appeared to him to be more in the nature ot an apology than an explanation. One would have thought, he said, that the increased business would have meant increased profits, but this was apparently not the case

with the railways. He thought the Minister required to pay the very closest attention to the rapidly increasing expenditure by the Department. The vote was passed. Justice Department Speaking on the vote of £327,590 for Justice and Prisons Department, Mr Smith asked if the Minister would consider that payments for juries should be increased. The Attorney-General (Hon. H. G. R. Mason) replied that increases in payments of juries would be favourably considered, and the vote was passed without further discussion. The vote of £7869 for the Crown Law Office was also passed with little discussion. Altogether seven classes of the Estimates involving the sum of £8,648,309, were passed during the day. The Sale of Wool Bill was put through committee stages, read a third time and passed without discussion, and the House rose at 4.45 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Monday.