TO BE STOPPED.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17687, 16 April 1929, Page 8

TO BE STOPPED.

| PALMERSTON DEVIATION. I ' | P EXPENDITURE NOT JUSTIFIED. ft I . . i GOODS TRAFFIC DECREASED. f. ■ ' I* • (gf • / | £216,000 ALREADY SPENT. ; §> v .•■•■■, 1 ■||(l)y Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. . The important question of the deviaition from the present railway station £at Palmerston North has been receiving ■Close attention and the most searching investigation by the Government [for the last eight weeks, and has been 'before Cabinet during that time on /’several occasions. Ten Ministers visited Palmerston North personally to (examine the work, and this week arrived at a unanimous decision that the "’.deviation work be not proceeded with: .•/ Sir Joseph Ward informed the •§press that both himself and his colleagues deeply regretted that in the ■ general interests of the country, not •excluding the town of Palmerston [(North itself, an immediate review of the work was necessary, and the dejcision arrived at appeared to the whole ;of- the Ministers to be the only one that .(they could come to in the interests of the country. The question from the .beginning was approached entirely free :,from political considerations of any ■■kind. He would put some of the facts 3'on record as they presented thernto the Government. The general public must be .the -judges and jiorm their conclusions from the facts ?*as they were now presented to them. The"latest estimate of the sum required for carrying out the deviation, ‘.lncluding a new station at Palmerston [[(North and. the Whakaranga deviation, 'which is a continuance of the new •'portion to connect up the new line with the present line leading to Napier, is •.£725,000. That is the lowest estimate made recently by officers of the Worlds and Railway Depa-t----■fnents, and the cost of the new railyyvay station, with verandah, platforms and subways, included in that is estimated at £BO,OOO. The amount actuially spent up to March 31st., is i*£156,000, by the Public Works Department, and £47,000 by the Railway DcIpartment (payment for/land), while tlhere arc. some land claims not yet (Settled which are estimated to involve approximately £13,000, a total pf £216,000, which, deducted -from (the. latest estimate of the total cost, if eaves £509,000 still to be provided to the work. No increased Revenue. |j The whole of the work when competed is not expected to produce any Additional revenue to the railways On the. contrary, the cost jjjpf working the new station and yards jjSvill be increased to the extent of approximately £BOOO per annum, apart. Ilrom the loss of interest and sinking sund. Between 1921 (when the traffic reached its peak) and 1928, the passenger traffic had not only not increased, but had decreased to such a large extent that it was back to about the same as it was in 1905. Goods .fraffic also reached its peak in 1921, ; :ind since that time has shown a de • grease, gj “As regards.congestion on the present site of the railway station,” continued Sir Joseph, ‘‘l desire to say -'that the conditions, as now operating do not show that this exists in any such (measure as to justify the huge expenditure- involved in providing a new 'station and yards. With the failure ;Df the traffic to increase as was anticipated and with a suitable arrangement fto work the trains, the situation has completely altered, and to such an extent that the general manager and his 'fbCicers have reported that they arc ,[quite satisfied that an expenditure of faLout £33,000 in the present Palmerston railway yard will afford all the facilities necessary-to enable the business of Palmerston North to be carried on with reasonable convenience on the present site for some years to come. It must not be forgotten, in assessing the position, that the loss of interest on the amount of the borrowed money that it is proposed to put into this work has to be considered : and taken into account. The General Manager of Railways advises the Government that he can see no prospect whatever of extra revenue being earned as a result of carrying out the deviation." now under construction, and therefore it is, certain that both interest and sinking Turn! upon the lowest amount that it is estimated these (•works will cost, must be taken into consideration to get the true position and to ascertain the loss that the [country would sustain if the works were completed. \

Positions Summed Up. , up/ tlie position is that neither the railway officers nor the Government have any motive to serve other than what appears 10 them to be the public interest. The fact remains that in the light of conditions as they have developed the above proposal has nothing to justify anyone in going on with it. The amount already paid ’ will of course have its repayment provided for by a sinking fund. No buildings have been erected, and if even in 30 years from now it became necessary to again go on with the work it could be commenced practically from ij the point to which it has now been j: brojight and comparatively no loss in ■i the shape of deterioration would have occurred. . “In dealing with this important matter the Government., as an employer of labour at the Palmerston North' deviation,, has given the fullest consideration to the position that ji the stoppage .of the works vvill affect the workmen. . At present there are | 213 officers.and men employed. Most of the formation, work is in such a ■ if state that it could be stopped at once, ;t; but there are several works, such as i drains and a canal, which will Have to be completed to make them safe and avoid further claims for possible dam- ’ age. by floods. The requisite number ‘ of men will be kept on for that purli pose. The majority of the men are li labourers, and a start will be made ! immediately by sending them forward I! to the Gisborne-Wairoa railway at the lirate of 40 per week. It is calculated j byi the Public Works Department-that j most of . the men would be transferred ' within .four weeks from, the stoppage . of the work. Thirty or 40 of them will be retained for the purpose of j, finishing the drains and the canal I mentioned.”