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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 66

Public Works

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page 89

Public Works.

Any account of New Zealand's progress that failed to make special mention of the extraordinary changes wrought by what is commonly known as the "Immigration and Public Works policy" would indeed he incomplete.

The rugged character of the country generally, and the natural difficulties appertaining to many of the sites upon which the chief towns were built, very early necessitated a large outlay on roads and public works. The necessity was fully recognized, and to some extent met, by most of the Provincial Governments, who have justly received great credit for their far-seeing and liberal exertions in that direction. A great deal of road-making, often of a very costly character, was accomplished, harbour and other improvements begun, and immigration handsomely encouraged. Something was also done in the way of the making of railways, notably in Canterbury, where a line unusually difficult and expensive in construction, involving some heavy tunnelling, was successfully undertaken and carried through by the Provincial Government, in order to provide easy means of communication between Christchurch and the Port of Lyttelton. Some advance towards the construction of a main trunk line had also been made in the same province. In Otago, also, the City of Dunedin had been connected with Port Chalmers by a railway, constructed under the guarantee of the Otago Provincial Government, and some miles of railway had been made in Southland. But the work to be done in the colony generally was too vast to be grappled with by the separate exertions of a few local Governments. It was therefore proposed that the General Government should take in hand the execution of all public works of a colonial character, upon an extensive and well-defined system, and that a loan of ten millions be raised to provide funds for that purpose. The objects sought to be accomplished were defined to be,—
I.Systematic immigration on a large scale.
II.Construction of a main trunk railway throughout each Island.
III.Construction of roads through the interior of the North Island.
IV.The purchase of Native land in the North Island.
V.The supply of water on goldfields.
VI.The extension of telegraph works.

In accordance with the plan thus laid down, "The Immigration and Public Works Act, 1870," was passed by the Legislature, and many who were greatly alarmed when the scheme was first propounded to the country by Mr. (now Sir Julius) Vogel, and thought it wild and extravagant, have since admitted that the step taken was as wise page 90 as it was bold. A considerable extent of country has been opened up and settled by a large and thriving population in a surprisingly short space of time. As facilities were offered for the conveyance of the products of agriculture, the value of land, of course, greatly increased : not its nominal value merely, but its actual value. Hundreds of thousands of acres, worth, before the advent of railways, from £1 to £3 an acre, were afterwards sold at prices ranging from £10 to £20 per acre, and, for the most part, bought by experienced farmers, who had made their money in the colony, and knew the real capability and value of the land so purchased. It may also be said that, in addition to the enormous reproductive indirect results of the Public Works policy, the outlay incurred, at least in the case of the railways constructed, is likely to prove a capital investment, and so be directly reproductive, many of the principal lines already yielding a fair interest on the money expended in their construction.

The total amount expended on public works by the General Government, from the date of the Immigration and Public Works Act of 1870, and similar subsequent Acts, and under their authority, up to the 31st March, 1885, is as under:—
Railways £11,616,754
Roads and Road Boards 2,273,129
Coal mines 10,835
Water supply on goldfields 492,228
Works on Thames Goldfield 50,000
Telegraphs 484,017
Public buildings 1,420,914
Lighthouses and harbours 462,619
Departmental 227,596
£17,038,092

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