THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3422, 10 December 1879, Page 2

THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

The Hon. Eichard Oliver «a<d :— Sir.-r^On the 7th of August my predecessor, Mr Macandrew,, made bis Public Works Sta'emenfc in this House, in which he shortly summarised the work of the Department for the last financial year, but avowedly con fined himself to such facts as were in his opinion needed to accompany the application for the loan than authorised. I shall now, by permission of the House, gire a brief account of the progress of our public wo> ks up to a more recent date, and .then indicate the opinion of the Government on the tours* which it is our duty to pursue. Railways of IToitli Island. Taking the railways in their geographical order, we ben in with the Knwakawa, that being the most northern. The first section of this line has been completed, and is being used in conveying coal from the mine to the wharf where the coal is put into barges, and conveyed to shins lying at the deep wat*r anchorage, eight miles below the first contract on the Whangarei • Eamo line, and is witbin a few weeks of completion, and the work of plate laying will be begun as soon as possible.. The { surrey of the proposed If elen&viHe and Wangarei Kail nay has now been begun, and during the summer the whole of this country will be thoroughly examined. It is expected that the wharf at Helensville will be completed in about a month which will provide a very necessary accomodition between Biverhead and Newmarket. The work is in progress along the whole 22 miles, and should be finished in about ten months. If in the same time the Newmarket junction station could be finished, railway communication between Auckland and the Kaipara waters would be completed. A large reclamation contract is being carried out to obtain increased station aecomodation in Auckland, and a site for raWway workshops has been bought at Newmarket. The branch line to Hamilton has been opened for traffic, and in a very short time the southern end of the Kaipara Puniu line will be finished ; this is within two or three miles of the confiscated boundary. Some works are being carried on ; at (Jrahamstown and Shortland, and the natives are employed at piece work an another section, about two miles long, further up the Thames Valley. The work* on the Napier-Mana-watu railway are being pushed on •south of Kopua, and 64 miles are now open for traffic. Railway workshops are beiag built at Napier. Ninety-four miles of the Patea-Manawatu railway are now open for traffic. From Foxton toKai Iwi, nine miles north of Wanganui, and a further section of 13 miles is being constructed. In a few weeks the Stratford contract on the Waitsra-Patea line will be finished, and the journey from Now Plymouth to Wanganui will then be an affair of one day only. Surreys are being carefully made north of Carlyl*, and this line desirable for strategic «nd other reasons between Waitara and New Plymeuth on the North, and Carlyle, the port of Patea, on the sonth, may be finished at no distant date. The works on the WellingtonWoodville railway, in the Wairarapa dia. trict, are being pushed on vigorously. The contract having been abandoned, iti completion is being carried out by the Public Works .Engineers. These works, and the formation of the Greytown

branch aro so well advanced that the tine may be open for traffic as far as the latter place early in February. The railway wharf at Wellington and the workshops at Petone are drawing near completion; machinery for 'the latter has arrived, and will shortly be placed in position, giving facilities for repairs as well as for the economical manufacture ot many articles at present bought at high rates. Surveys of the Foxton end of the Wellington Pox ion line are being pro* ceeded with, and .some, work has . been done near Wellington by day labour— over a length of nearly fife miles. * Middle leUnd. v The original public works scheme for the Middle Island was finished in the Izsfc financial year: communication, by -ra 1" being established between Christchureh and Invercargill. The Western railways in Southland, however (the construction of which was taken over from the Fro* vincial Government), and some eitensioni of Uio General Government line, am not yet complete. Railways authorised lwt year. . Contracts were let almost to the fail extent of the votes on nearly all the lines authorised last year, and in several cases the votes were largely exceeded. Sections were let by piece work and day'labor at Weka Pa«s and Albury, in Canterbury j on the Livingstone Branch and Otago* Central Kailway, in Otago; and at Kaiwarra, near Wellington; on all these there are about 2300 men engaged ;;at wages somewhat Ie s than current rates. It is certain that this labor will rapidly become smaller as the summer advance*. Boada* Certain main lines of road in the North Tsland are being maintained, sach.a* th* Great South road, Auckland.; the Tauranga Taupo road, the laupQ* Napier road, and some other.short lengths of road in native districts. The GovernaMat expenditure on roads and bridges in th« Middle Island during the-last year was comparatively small, having, b«ea* almoat entirely confined to Westlaod and the Northern end of the Island. ' ' - - Coal Exploration. The most important work of this class which has been undertaken.daring the past year is the examination-of the ooal beds of the Mokau district by Dr Hector, who reports that the coal formation there is to a considerable extent th« outcrop.of seams having a width of over two miles, and stretching from Kawhia aarbotr towards the upper part of the Wangatou rivers. The JEawakawa coal mine,: at the Bay of Islands, is undergoing steady development, and the coal is rapidly acquiring an, established position-in the market as a valuable steam coal.. A shaft recently sunk has disclosed the existenet of two seams four and nine feet thick,rof superior quality, and at a greater depth than any previous* working in the Wat. kiito river,.and indications of an improvement in the qmiity of the coal with increasing depth have also been shown:by recent discoveries. . : :. • .- Eerie* of the put Proflt. of last Tear.

In the Public Works Statement, which was lately made by my predecessor, All particulars, were giren of, tbe length of tlw - railway* open for traffic, the cost of their construction, ibe grots receipts, the working expenses, and the eqst of maintenance. Considering the headlong'and rapid rate at which our railwajs hare been constructed, the uncultivated iandi through which large portions of nearly all of them past, and the sm»llness of our population, it is doubtless a matter of congratulation that the contribution to* wards interest on the cost of construction is so large; it may, however, be as well to ascertain how the account really stands. I find that tbe cost of railways open for traffic at the end of the last financial year i 5—£8,690,407 0s 4d, including £633.229 0s 4d for interest to date, „-,;Z an of opinion that tha gross traffic returns amount to £1,728.963 3< 7d, from which must be deducted J5i.260.097 la 7d for working expenses and. maintenanea, leer, ing £479.047 18s for payment of interest on the loaus out of : which these railway* were made. Table No. 11, whtek will be appended to this statement when printed, shows that,for the pant year the recriata hare been £758,096 8* 2d. and the" working expenses *£?45 478 ;15s, leafing a surplus of £212.61713. 2J. This amount represents 20 54 per cent; as the areiagv cost of construction, leafing 2*846 per eeni. to be supplied from other Munesw; Opinion. of the Putnri, ( „ Sir, I will beliare that N«w Zealand is a country of such great resoaraes that m the course of years eren those railways which are now the farthest from paying will become remuneratire. In the mean-' time, however, the inhabitants of distrieta which hafe no railways are taxed to pay for them as well as those who inhabit more favored places. flow'burdensome the charges hare become was lately shown by my honorable- colleague* the. Colonial Treasurer; and the duty is placed ©» T»s of considering how to make our railways pay a larger contribution towards their cost by skilful economical management, and of submitting all future propojals for new railwajs to.the same rigid,scrutiny as private investors would' make, .and firmly rejecting them unless a strong pro-> bability can be shown that they will prove remuneratire. It must not, hdwerero be forgotten that tha demands of the public hare forced on the adoption of a more expensive mode of constructing railways and greater speed in transit than was at first intended; thus necessarily interfering with the paying character of the undertakings.. No doubt great, collateral advantages are gained by the construction of railway*, but after {all the practical test of usefulness really is ! their being or not being «sed. If, therefore, it is found that a great loss results from its working it may, I think, be assumed that either it is badly managed, or that being useful only to a 'fair it ought not to hare been constructed. To quote from the ' statement' "made by my predecessor in 1878: "The difficulty commented from the moment.when the legislature repeated that a eahli^^l point was that in the event of the proceeds 6f any railway' failing to meet interest and sinking fund on the cost of its eonstruei tion, property in the district should fee rated to make up tbe deficiency." 'The proposal of the Government .is', as'hob members know, to derote the proceeds 'of the sales, of lands to local and colonial public works; but if this./fand^ jJs.. to. be supplemented, to any.great extent by additional, borrowing ,to . complete the general; scheme .of ■; railwaya) there is no* doubt in "my mind that either those already eonstroeted must be made to approach saore nearly to g pajiag

condition, or else a syfitem of rating the districts beneficially affected must eventually be restored to. Sir, we do not thin^ that the proposals for the various lines of railways which ara now in coarse of construction have been subjected before the adoption to so close a scrutiny as tbeir importance demands. It has, moreover, become apparent that the funds which will be at our disposal for the prosecution of these works will prove inadequate to complete them. We think that the time has come when our whole future policy with regard to public works must be recousidered,.and i'.t is our intention to ask Parliament foir authority to appoint a Soyal Commission to make a more full and complete investigation into the cost and economical Talue of the several works commenced and proposed than it would bf» possible for the Government to complete before next session of Parliament. The Government hope, by means of the report of these Commissioners to be placed in a positiou to make proposals to Parliament for the prosecution of public works upon a plan carefully adapted to the circumstances of the colony. Our efforts must now, therefore, bfl earnestly directed to the economical management of bur railway:;, and amongst other means, I think the keeping the accounts of the various sections separate and distinct, so that it may be seen what •ach is earning and spending, will have "the good effect of arousiisg emulation among th« officers, as well aa showing on which of the lines a different system of working should be adopted. Proposals for the IFutura. Sir»~My predecessor has had the gratification of proposing and initiating many new works of great magnitude. To roe ha« fallen the unwelcome tank of showing that our r^soarcfs are mad quate to bear the continued strain^ of so rapidly constructing these expensive works. Believing that to be the case, we do not intend to ask for autb rity to begin many new works. The foods .at our di sposal for the next few years will be only sufficient to Meet the necessary requirements for miscellaneous public works, and for carrying on the works already authorised at a rate proportioned to our resources, and to the . point at • hich they will be of real us« to the community. Our position is briefly this : In respect of the £5.000.000 loan and the balance of £517,120, including credits, with which we began the year the positive engagements on contracts catered into and liabilities which must be met, together with the expenditure already made during the current year will absorb j £3.800,865, including £1.210 802 for land purchase? and £154.791 payable to counties in the Provincial districts of Canter-1 bury and Otago in respect of stoppages from the surplus land revenue of those districts. If finished in the stipulated j time these works will require £2.559,082 j of this amount to be paid before the 30th June nett, and the remainder of the liabilities,' excepting a portion of those for land purchases, within the following year. .The balance, therefore, which is available out of the new loan is £1,872.046; and the only method of adding to this/ for public works, in addition to receipts for land sales, is by diverting to this purpose a sum from one of the other objects for which the loan was authorised. I have stated generally our intentions and the principles which we believe must guide our proposals. Whatever may be the opinion of the House as to the expediency of the course which we purpose, that course must to a large extent be guided by circumstances which we cannot control.

Conditions Attached to the . Loan. It is my duty to inform the House that the understanding on which the loan •gents, are likely to obtain the £5.000,000 loan is such as will preclude our going upon the English money market for further loans for a period of three years. It it imperative, therefore, in the interest of settlement, that the expenditure of this loan should be judiciously spread over that period. Our proposals for expenditure will be placed in detail before you. I regret to state that, although an earnest endeavor has been made to keep the esti mates within reasonable compass, they reach a very much larger sum than hon. members will probably expect. It will be seen, however, that no less a sum than £2.356.729 7s in our Estimates is for liabilities which we found in existence upon our assumption to o'Pce, and a large portioh-of the remainder is for.works which are necessary to make available those sections already in course of construction. However, much we have desired to contract the largo expenditure to which the colony is committed, we have felt boned to ask for appropriations which we are advised will be required for the above purposes, but should Parliament agree to our proposals it will be our' anxious endeavour to limit the actual

expenditure during the current year considerably within the amount of the votes. I'wiH proceed, sir, to briefly indicate the principal works intended to be carried out during the current year.

RailwaysKawakawa: Another section is nearly ready for tendering, and it is proposed to go on immediately with the works; its prosecution being an obligationimposed on the Government under an ngr-ement with the Superintendent oF Auckland and iiie proprietors of the Kawakawa coal mine, ratified by an Act of the General Assembly. Whangarei to Karoo:—Plans hare been prepared for the second section, I •xtendiog into deep water, and tenders : will anon be called. Kaipara to Punui: The whole of this work is now under contract, with the exception of the station at the Newmarket Junction. Tenders hare been receired for this work. and their acceptance is only awaiting the pa»iing of the estimates. Tenders hare likewise been received for levelling and draining the site at .Newmarket, on which it it proposed to erect the district workshops as soon as authority has been obtained from Parliament. Waikato to the Thames:—lt is intended to construct a bridge dferthe Waikato, and a section * from Hamilton East. Orders for the bridge material will be sent to London by • an early mail. Napier to Woodville :— Tenders hare been received for the plate* laying on the section sooth of the present terminus at Kopua, the acceptance of which is awaiting the passing of the Estimates. A "further section will bo put in Band—Wellington to Woodviile. It will probably not be possible to do moro this year than complete the line to Mastorton, cut arrangements will be made for laying the permanent way on the Grey town branch, and tenders will be called for the •Htetton of the necessary stations, so as to, optß to* line and branch as nearly together •• the •fcattof the work will

allow. Surveys of the extension of the line beyond Masterton will be proceeded with. Bunnytborpe to Woodrilb :—A propns-I has been received from the Emigrant and ; Colonial Aid Corporation to construct a I portion of the main line connecting the East and West Coast railways, with a view to open up the valuable timbered lands through which it passes. The portion suggested is from Bunnythorp to the Manawatu Gortie, and you will be asked to give the necessary power to enable the Government and the corporation to enter into arrangements somewhat on the terms indicated in the proposal now laid on the table. Wellington to Poxton: The necessary uxtention of the wharf and station at Foxton will bo undertaken, and the work on tho Crofton section, near Wellington, will be proceeded with by labor. The surveys now going on from Foxton will be continued to completion. A line from Pulmerston, to join the Wellington and Foxton Hmps is also being surveyed. Fxtoh to Carlyle: the section fr»ra Kaiwa to Waiotatara is under contract, and the exeeptance of a tender for the next section to Waverley is awaiting the passing of the Estimates. The gap of about nine miles thence to Carlyle will be surveyed, and plans mads ready for tendering ns soon as possible. The formation of the branch line from Greatford to Bulls, and the extension of the Tainui siding through a mile and a-half of timbered Innd is und-r consideration. Carhie to Waiiara: It is proposed to complete without delay the remaining sections between the p >rt of Carlyle and Hawera. and from thence to Stratford. A portion of this line i« being executed by piece work, it having become expedient to do so, owing to the temporary unsettlemerit of tve ordinary avocations of some of the residents. Waikato to Taranaki: While it is not at present practicable to survey or do any work on this line you will be asked to grant a smalt vote to enable the Government to take advantage of any opportunity that may arise in that direc ion. Nelson to Greymouth : It is intended to call for tenders for a section at each end of this line, and to carry on the Grey mouth Harbor Works more vigorously than circumstances have rendered possible during the past year. Greymouth to Hokitika: The continuance of this line will bo kept steadily in view. Westport to Ngakawau: The Buller Protective Works will be completed so as to insure the whole district as well as the railway against the encroachments of the river. Tnere is every reason to hope that very shortly coal mines in this district will be in full working order, and expenditure incurred on this Hue turned to profitable acco«nt. Picton to Hurunui: In addition to completing the line to Blenheim, a section to the soath, towards Awatere will be surveyed and advertised for contract. Hurunui to Waitoki: The main line through Weka Pass to the Huranui Plains will be completed, and stations at the large centres improved ; the branch lines to the Upper Ashburton, Little River and Opawa, will also be proceeded with. Canterbury: The interior three sections will be gone on with, viz , one at each end. and one Southwards from the White Cliffs branch. Waitaki to Bluff: Further station accommodation will be provided at the principal centres, and increased wharfage at Port Chalmers. The branch lines from Oa'maru, Livingston, Palmerston, Waitemo, Clntha to Catlin's Hiver, and Edehdale to Toitois. will all be proceeded with; Waipahi to Heriotburn: In order to facilitate the opening of the line to Tapanui, and thereby place the district in easy communication with a market, it is proposed to assist the contractor in the completion of his contract. Parliament will be asked to empowar.the Government to make arrangements with the contractor to ensure the completion of this work. Otago Central:—Tenders will be advertised for further contract in continuation of the Wiagatai and Hindon sections. This will finish the heaviest works. to the Taieri Gorge, and bring the line into the open country of the Sutton district. Western Railway*—For works on these lines from Otautau to Nightcaps, Lumsden to Marawa, and Hiverton to Orepuki, will be steadily carried on. East and West Coasts—Tliis line will not be lost sight of, and while no special portion can for the present be begun, the surveys will be continued during this year. Hitherto only preliminary surveys have been made, and even these have not been completed on the routes which seem to present the greatest advantages. Sir, in the absence of the fullest information it would be evidently impossible to give a trustworthy estimate ot the cost of the undertaking. I have abstained from burdening the above proposals with details of the mileage and cest of the various works to be undertaken, bat full information will be found in the table No. 1 attached to the printed statements. This table is intended to form one of the schedule* to the Immigration and Public Works Appropriation, which will, in compliance with the provision in section 9 of tha proposed Public Works Act, 1879, "be brought' down, and this bill if adopted will practically provide the guarantees sought to be obtained by Parliament in the Railway Act of last year. District Railways. Hon. members will regret to learn that nearly all.the railway companies formed under the provision of the Kailways Act have been compelled to suspend their operations owing to the general financial depression, and the defects which have been found in the working of those Acts. Applications have be-n received from - most of those companies for assistance on the ground that unless the Government assume their responsibilities the expenditure already made will be lost. Some of these branches would form useful portions of our railway system, and with | regard to thege the Government propose i to take power to treat with such companies as have begun work and are unable to complete their lines, and in the event of satisfactory arrangements being made, to purchase them for the colony.

Water Races. The Tote proposed to bo taken for water races is £39.383. This sum will be expended as indicated in tbe estimates on works, which, while they promise to be beneficial, cannot be expected to be directly remuneratire. Roads. I now come to our proposals with regard to roads. Wo lay great stress upon these, both aa promoting a solution of the' satire difficulty in the North Inland and as fostering the permanent settlement of the country in connection with the administration of liberal land laws. Unless we steadily pursue a policy of progress by opening up tht country

with rads leading to our main lines of

railway, aa well as ni parts of the country whore we are not likely t-> \s ybie to

establish railway commiiiiiefttioii, tvo can

have little hopeof arrival of the prosperity of past years. The estimates will show in detail our proposed appropriation under this head. In conclusiou. air, I have only to add that I should have made this statement much earlier in the session if there had been any certainty as to funds which would be at our di<posal; even now, I should have liked to defer making it for a few day* until it for a few days until the result of our application for the five million loan had become known to us,, but the advanced period of the session, and of the year, forbade further delay*. I have to thank you and the House for the patient attention which you have given me.

Mr Macandrew said the Minister for Public Works was to be complimented on the clear business-like Statement he had just made. He was glad to find that the policy as originally initiated was to be carried out in its integrity. f The House went into Committee on the Property Assessment Bill, and a number of amendments were proposed, but were lost on divisions.