The Public Works Statement.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2054, 4 August 1875, Page 2

The Public Works Statement.

[BY TELEGBIPH.]

- WELLINGTON. Tuesday night. The Hon. Mr Richardson made his Public Works Statement this evening. Instead of entering as fully into details as formerly, he drew attention to the maps, tables, and reports from the various engineers and others that would be attached to the printed statement. It was only then for the first time that he was able to speak with, any degree of certainty as to ..the cost of the various railways. The

appropriation taken m 1872 had in many cases been only approximate, but "during the past two years detailed surveys of nearly all the railways had been completed, and he was now in a position to place reliable estimates before the House. Before doing so he referred to the past action of the Public Works Department, with a view to show how satisfactory are the results of the large railway works undertaken by the colony. The Eailways Act of 1872 appropriated £3,886,900. This was then supposed sufficient for constructing 764 miles of railway, of which 278 were in the North Island, and 486 in the Middle Island. Further appropriations were.taken in 1873 amounting to £1,680,000, and additional small appropriations in 1874, the total being £5,777,900, for the construction of •• 1,010, miles, of which 362 were in the North Island and 640 in the Middle Island. Now that' the actual length and cost can be correctly estimated, it is found that to complete the lines in the North Islandi there will be required an additional appropriation of £142,000 for some of them, while on the others there will be a i saving of the appropriation of £5,000. i From this calculation is excluded the 24 ''inile3 from Featherston to Mastertdn, afterwards separately alluded to. For the completion of the Middle Island lines additional appropriations, will be required on some of them, amounting to 1 £265,000, while on others there will be i a balance of £43,319, omitting the length . from Featherston to Masterton, but there will therefore be required to be newly appropriated £437,400 with a balance in excess of votes of £93,319, thus only really increasing the present appropriation by £314,081. : The total appropriation will be £6,091,881 for the completion of this mileage fully equipped, ! 100 miles.of it being of a.heavier rail than " previously contemplated. With three exceptions the lines will be constructed at an average cost of £5,600 per. mile/' the exceptions being the Wellington to Featherston, the Port Chalmers, and .the. Dunedin t& Moeraki, these costing £10,000, £27,000, and £9,000 per mile respectively. There are open for traffic 278'miles, 137 miles more will be ready within three months, and 116 more by the end of the year. The excess of cost- | is attributable to the rise in-labour and I material, the still greater rise in the price of timber, and the heavy cost of transhipment. This rise .will be more readily understood when it is borne, ia mind that the rise in home prices, forced a large portion of the permanent way to be contracted for at rates no one could possibly . have anticipated in 1872; that circumstances have necessitated £120,000 in 'fencing beyond the. original estimate, and 1 the high prices that in some cases have had to be paid for railway lands. 11 The estimates of the traffic on the various lines submitted in 1871 and 1872 were at the time considered to be far in excess of what was likely to realised when the lines were opened. But the result has been so much in excess that soon after the close of last session orders for additional rolling stock, amounting to £96,000, had to be sent home. The Engineer-in-Chief, in the face of this large, traffic, had recommended 100 miles of 521b rails to he ordered for curves and steep gradients, instead of the ordinary 4Qlb rails. While on this subject it is thought well to refer to the charges which have been very ; freely made during the past year as to the bad quality of the material. As far ! as experience has shown at present, there is very little.to complain of. The orders sent home Eave been very well executed on the whole. In addition to the inspection which, takes place in England, everything is so closely examined in the colony that wherever there is any room for complaint it is at onoe. made, and cl-iims for remedying the evils are «ent home. In almost eyery instance the amounts claimed have been at once reerur- JBl)nrt nised and paid, or fresh m'atejisis-scnfottt*^ I***1*** frco of cost. A|thjya£&' many of the: '■' works__have^ not"-"proceeded as expeditfously as\,contemplated, yet a .large amount of-work has been done.. Delays"" have-iif most cases arisen in a greater or ■ f less degree from want of labour, and there has scarcely been a locality where contractors have been.able to procure a sufficient supply. Urgent demands have been received from almost every district. - to press on. the works faster, but the Government have been careful--to avoid further forcing up the rates of labour - and flh:re necessary have extended the time for completion. . The Housb is urged not to enter upon extensions, or new lines, until proper surveys have been made and reliable details procured. The . extra cost is attributed to a departure from this rule. The; prinoipaj additional appropriations -required -on authorised works are—£2o,ooo for the Aucklaud to Mercer, £20,400 for the Napier to Waipukurau, £24,000 for the conversion .of the Manawatu tramway, thereby making :-' a total of £84,000 for 25 miles of railway; £59,000 for Wellington to Featherston, £50,003 for the branch line and terminal " accommodation connecting the main line on the north and south. of. the rivet ; Wanganui, with the Wanganui township. . This branch is necessary for developing the- traffic on portions of the main line now under contract. An alternative . l:.uc has lately been suggested, which it is '. hoped will greatly, reduca- this almost . . prohibitive cost. £13,000 for the Nelso.a -,> to Foxhill; d§2§,ooo for Kctpn to Blen- "\: : ' heim, principally, owing 'to the extra .:... bridging; and £15,000 for continuing the line to the centre of Blenheim i • " £37,000 for Grey mouth to Bninnertonj £19,000 for Waimate branch; £16,000 ' for other Canterbury branch lines; £1,600 for the Waitaki bridge; £37,490 for Moeraki line'; £46.000 for Dunedin to Clutha; £39,500 Mataura to Inrercargill. •'. - . The railways open for traffic, worked by the General Government, have all, as soon as completed by the contractors, . been placed by the Engineer-in-Chief under the immediate charge of Mr Passmore, who was selected on account of the large practical experience ho possesses iu "

connection with the working of railways in other countries, and particularly with the narrow gauge, and working of heavy gradients. This officer has had anything but an enviable task, but thus far the Government have every cause to be satisfied with the way in which he has carried out the important work entrusted to him. The Wellington and Mastertbn railway has yielded, during the fourteen and a-half months it has been opened, £1,89113s Id over and above the working expenses. This is a result which must be considered highly satisfactory ■when it is remembered what a fragment of a line is open, that the present ternporary terminus is inconveniently distant from the city, and that the line is so short as almost to preclude goods traffic. The Napier and Pakipaki line has yielded during eight and a-half months, £2,028 9s. Considering how short a length of this line has been opened for traffic, the results are very encouraging. The Auckland and Onehunga line has during the past year yielded £2,149 5s lOd. The line from Penroge to Mercer has only been opened a few "weeks, and could scarcely have been considered to have been in working order. The profit, amounting to £6,069 7a 2d, shows the annual yield by these three lines of railway on the capitalised cost to be therefore a fraction over two per cent. For a few months the' Auckland and Onehunga line was not worked in a satisfactory manner. The cause is explained. It is now removed, and there is no reason to doubt, that traffic will henceforth bo "carried on with due regard to economy and public convenience. Complaints as regards rates for passengers and goods have been made, but reasons are given for considering those complaints unjust. The loudest comElaints have been made as to the scale xed for the line from Auckland to Mercer. Whether these complaints are justified, honourable members are left to judge for themselves from the following facts :—The length of the line is 43 miles, and on it there are several miles of very steep gradients. The first-class passenger fare for the whole distance is 11s, the second-class is 7s 6d, and the rates charged for goods vary according to description from 15s 8d to 12s per ton. The coach ratei for pa&serigers between Auckland and Mercer up to the opening 'of the railway was 15s, and the waggon rate for goods from 60s to 6Ss. These facts speak for themselves, and will, I think, be admitted to be a complete answer to the complaints that, have been made. ; With a view to assist in developing the Waikato mines, it is intended to fix a special haulage rate for coal from Mercer to Auckland at 7s;2d per ton. On the Canterbury and Otago lines the profit for the provincialyeary ending on the 31st March last is given as £19,641 6s lid and £22,323 5s 6d respectively. The only road calling for special attention is that between Masterton and Manawatu Gorge. £28,622 has been expended thereon during the year. The, metalling willbe proceeded with in the spring. The bridge over the Manawatu Gorge, opened lately, is 428 feet in length, and is one of the largest in ihe island. Ifc is suitable for both road and railway traffic. The total length of rbad made in the. North Island completed- or.; in progress is 1,888 miles of dray and 526 miles of horse roads at a cost'of £478,073, 11s Bd, viz., in Auckland, £168,364; Hawke's Bay £70,214; Wellington, £164,07.4; • Taranati,- £75,422. The maintenance of many of these road s, more especially those in the unsettled districts, is a matter which; involving as it does considerable annual outlay, will require to be provided for." It is proposed -to utilise as far as possible the services of the Constabulary for this purpose, and when these are not available other provision will have to be made. The total amount expended on roads in Nelson south-west goldfields has been £63,283, and the length completed or in progress 114 miles. The total amount, expended on roads in Westland is £112,009 lls sd, and the length 135 miles.

The three large water races for supplying water on the goldfields have all of them proved much.more costly undertakings than was anticipated. A further sum of £41,000 is required to complete them. The excess is caused mainly by the • large expenditure necessary to secure the stability of the head works of> the Nelson Creek and. Waiuaea. races; the same result has occurred on the large water-race at Naseby, which is being supervised by the Provincial Government of Otago, for which £10,000 - additional is required. It would appear with all the precautions which have ~<,been~tickea-ta objain reliable data previously to the coamreneeraenfc of these

- four great worts the same unsatisfactory results have been met with as have occurred in respect to similar undertakings in- other- parts of tho world, and more particularly in' India, California, and the adjoining colony of Victoria. Fortunately the works entered upon in New gealand are Hot' on such a large soale as in those cases referred to, and the water-races undertaken will, if the House votes the necessary funds, be completed, and within a few months he made remunerative. But Mr ".Richardson is ready to- ..admit that; the late Government, of which he was a member, Blade a grave error' in yielding to the pressure which was brought to bear upon it, and entering upon the construction of these races without more reliable data. The new survey of' the Mokonui waterrace is finished, but not yet to hand. It will be dealt with late in the session. A large number of public buildings havo been erected under the direction of the Colonial Architect, but the high prices} of labor and material of a,ll descriptions have pompelled. the Government to hold over all those which the requirements of the public service permitted. The Coal Exploration of thcßullerfiell has been proceeded with as rapidly as possible, and the plotting of coal outprops hag been going pn ep.ntemporancau.sly V:\vh \t.' The survey of the country be'rf'sween'Ngakawau and Mount Eochforfc, and between Mount William Range and. Cascade Break has bee« completed, A rough, estimate of this area givos as much as 140,000,000 tons, in seams of 20 feet and upwards,' attaining at one point a thickness of 63 feet. The brown coal of the Kupakupa mine, "Waikato, is being steadily worked; the seam holding about 18 feet in thickness. At Kaglan the coal formation again appears. At the Miranda liedoubfc it occurs, varying from 16 io 18 feet. Coal is- reported in Shakespeare Bay, Picton, but an examination of the country does not give any prospect of its being found there in workable quantities. The almost inexhaustible coal fields' in Pjtago are npv? being worked to a com-

i pavatively large extent, and with the i facilities that will be immediately offered r by the railways in course of construction, ; the development of these mines will be i rapidly extended. The same remark api plies to the coalfields in Canterbury and the neighborhood of Greymouth. The Inspection of Machinery Act has been brought into force, and machinery in 351 establishments inspected, and 513 steam boilers. • The fees amounted to £903, and the expenditure to £824. The j Government consider that while no ! attempt should be made to create a j revenue -from this source the fees should ■be made to pay all these necessary exl penses of carrying out the Act. As a [ rule the owners of machinery of all classes j have signified their approval of the Act, and there is no doubt the Inspector's recommendations have been of much service, and if the provisions of the Act are carefully carried out in future., very great benefit must accrue.to the public. The Government consider the railway appropriations to be taken this year out of the loan should be only those which will tend to render the railways already authorised more complete, and that further extensions should be postponed until, at all events, the greater proportion of the railways now in course of construction are open to traffic. They feel confident from the satisfactory results shown by those already opened that there will be no difficulty in raising whatever funds may be necessary to lurther extend the main trunk lines. The Auckland workshops have cost £12,000, and £3,000 more will be required. The experience of the Manawatu tramway having shown the waste occasioned by laying down wooden rails, the Takapau tramway will be converted into a railway, for which £27,000 is required. The line from Manawatu to Wanganui is on completion of plans, five miles longer than was anticipated, requiring £30,600 to finish it. The line from Featherston to Masterton, 24 miles, being practically unprovided for, will require £120,000. The Wellington terminus, including the reclamation, will cost £35,0C0, and the estimated cost of the railway wharf is £25,CC0; £5,C30 will also be required for a small workshop, built so as to be capable of easy extension; the inland line from Waitara to Inglewood, £3,500. The Government hope next session to be able to submit estimates for completing the main trunk line between Turakate and Wanganui, and Masterton through Manuwatu to Napier. Survey parties are now engaged on these routes, and although the cost of completing these railways will be very large, still the Government are satisfied there "will be no difficulty in raising the nceessary funds when the railways how in hand are finished and the extension can be undertaken with economy. Westport arid Mount Rochfort is, so far advanced that provisions must be made for shipping coal, -and for protective works, for which "£30;5C0 will be required. The plans are prepared. "',. £10,000 is absolutely required for a new passenger station at Port Chalmers, including a refund of the cost of reclamation. About £9,C00 has been spent on the Dunedin workshops. They will cost the same as at Auckland, £15,000. A survey has been made to jo;n the East ■ ■and West Coasts of the Middle Island by Mr Eoy., The Engineer-in-Chief, from these data, recommends that the best route for a railway north of Rokitiki is from Greymouth, via the river Ahaura to the | Tutai Kurae over the Hope Pass, thence along, the Hope and the Waiau to where thai river, would be crossed by the extension north-wards of the main trunk line. Other routes have been traversed and found impracticable. The Government are not yet in. a position to recommend any action to the Assembly.