D.—l

are going, rather far in the matter of providing railway facilities for our settlers, or, at any rate, that our expenditure is out of proportion to the smallness of our population. The Government does not hold this view, and a study of the following table will probably tend to remove any misapprehensions on the subject:—

Table showing the Population per Mile of Railway and the Expenditure on Railways opened for Traffic per Head of the Population in the undermentioned British Colonies.

From the above it will be seen that, with the exception of Tasmania, New Zealand's expenditure on railway-construction per head of the population is the lowest in the Australasian or South African Colonies. We must consider the necessities of our settlers, and provide facilities for conveying the product of their labour to market at the 1-west possible cost. We cannot ignore the loss that has occurred in the past by the destruction of valuable timber owing to the absence of means of conveying that necessary article to the centres of population; and, instead of too hastily diminishing our expenditure, we ought to complete our main lines of communication and steadily proceed with the other works now in hand. It was this view of the case that induced the Government to propose larger appropriations for railway purposes during the last five or six years, and the same view actuates me in submitting my present proposals. Our total expenditure on railway-works (not including additions to open lines) during the last twenty years has been as follows :— £ i £ £ I £ 1882-83 ... 318,387 ! 1887-88 ... 347,539 1892-93 ... 208,282 1897-9 i ... 194,869 1883-84 ... 367,495 11888-89 ... 216,650 1893-94 ... 168,262 1898-99 ... 194,260 1884-85 ... 451,187 1889-90 ... 184,049 1894-95 ... 171,236 1899-1900... 199,580 1885-86 ... 335,789 1890-91 ... 167,093 1895-96 ... 158,618 1900-1 ... 392,691 1886-87 ... 321,629 1891-92 ... 120,729 1896-97 ... 142,514 1901-2 ... 560,712 I will now give a brief sketch of the several railway-construction works which have been in progress since my last Statement was made. Kawakawa-Grahamtown. Wprk has been in hand at both ends of this line—viz., at the north end between Kawakawa and a point eight miles southwards, and in the south between Opau Wharf and Grahamtown; while a survey party has also been at work locating the position of the unconstructed section in the middle. The formation and bridges on the first five miles at the northern end are finished, and the rails laid on four miles and a half—viz., to the point where the ballast-pit line runs off. This latter line, which is a mile and three-quarters long, has also been formed, and the laying of the rails upon it is now in progress. The formation of the balance of the eight-miles section of the main line is about three parts done. At the southern end earthworks have been started, but no great progress has been made, as there is no object in pushing the earthworks at this end until the contractors for the Whangarei Bridge have made some headway with their work. The contract for this bridge was let in May last to Messrs.

III

Colony. Population. _ ,. Miles Population Expenditure on , of £ Mile Railways opened Raiiwa y : r of for Traffic. / | Railway . Expenditure on Railways per Head of the Population. Natal Cape of Good Hope South Australia Queensland Western Australia ... Victoria New South Wales ... New Zealand Tasmania ... 59,596 458,000 362,604 507,057 187,660 1,204,175 1,366,410 833,137 172,979 £ 8,528,989 22,946,078 14,326,765 19,739,495 7,098,239 40,145,404 38,932,781 18,170,722 3,659,069 609 2,003 1,882 2,801 1,355 3,228 2,818 2,227 445 98 229 193 181 138 373 485 374 389 £ s. d. 143 2 3 50 2 0 39 10 3 38 18 7 37 16 6 33 6 9 28 9 10 21 16 2 21 3 1