D.—l2a

SESS. 11.—1891. NEW ZEALAND.

LOCOMOTIVE BOILERS ORDERED FROM ENGLAND (FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO).

Laid on the Table by permission of the House, by the Hon. Mr. Seddon.

No. 1. The Eailway Commissioners to the Hon. the Minister for Public Woeks. The Hon. the Minister for Public Works. Eailway Department, 3rd July, 1891. The Commissioners regret to find, from your memoranda of the 30th June, that the Government is. still apparently in doubt about asking Parliament to vote the sum of £40,000 for additions to opened lines of railway. On the 11th April last the Commissioners informed the Government that they could not accept, the responsibility of naming a less sum. Under these circumstances, and having already supplied you with details of the proposed expenditure, they would respectfully request that their proposals be placed before Parliament. Should a less sum be voted it will be the duty of the Commissioners to do the best they can with it, but they think that with Parliament should rest the responsibility of refusal. In the matter of your inquiries about the locomotive boilers the Commissioners are glad of your assurance that you had no thought of interfering in the technical work of the dpartment. This assurance is all the more gratifying, as in the New Zealand Herald, of the 13th May last, you are reported as having declared to the public that you had obtained from another source than the Commissioners, reliable information regarding the facilities for boiler-making at Addington, and that the accommodation complained of as wanting by the Commissioners was there. It might be well that you took an opportunity of correcting this statement, as it leaves the impression that you had been in communication either directly or indirectly with the employes of the Commissioners on departmental matters, a proceeding which may lead to insubordination in the service. The Commissioners are indebted to you for affording them another opportunity for giving you correct information for Parliament. The proper explanation of the Commissioners' action is that,, in their opinion, not having sufficient conveniences for carrying out the work they required, and having failed after repeated applications to obtain such funds from the Government as were necessary, they deemed it prudent to order the work elsewhere, and they have done what seemed to them to be best in the interests of the colony. The Commissioners would have preferred that the work should have been done in the Government shops, and hope that Parliament will be pleased to mak& such provision as will allow of their carrying on the work in future as they desire to do. James McKeeeow, Chief Commissioner.

No. 2. The Hon. the Minister for Public Woeks to the Eailway Commissionees. The Eailway Commissioners. Public Works Office, Wellington, 9th July, 1891. Be locomotive renewal boilers ordered from England: I have the honour to acknowledge the^ receipt of your memorandum of the 3rd instant in reply to two memoranda from this office of the 30th ultimo, one of them signed by myself, in reference to the above-mentioned subject, and the other by the Acting Under-Secretary, inquiring how the Commissioners would propose to apportion the proposed vote for works on opened lines for the current financial year. In reply, I would, in the first place, point out that it is very inconvenient and confusing to have the correspondence on the subject of the renewal boilers merged into that on the subject of the provision that should be made for additions to opened lines. This was pointed out in the memoran-