5

D.—2a

Addington Workshops, £38,300 : Extension of shops, foundry, alterations for electrification, new office for Foreman, additional sidings. Hillside Workshops, £29,000 : Extension of shops, new office for Foreman, construction of pits, sidings, extension of foundry, alterations for electrification. Invercargill Workshops, £9,500: Extension of fitting-shop, new office for Foreman, construction of pits, sidings, and alterations for electrification. Greymouth Workshops, £5,000 : Electrification of shops. Nelson Workshops, £400 : Concrete floor for paint-shop. West/port, £500 : New timber-shed. Locomotive-depots. —Frankton, £45,000 : New engine-shed to hold forty-five Ab locomotives, pits and floor, alteration to yard, coal, drainage, &c. The existing Frankton depot is too small, to house the locomotives at present stationed at that important depot. The bulk of the engines have therefore at the present time to stand out in the open, and the conditions under which the cleaners are workingare not conducive to their health or the satisfactory performance of their duties. Taihape, £30,000 : The extension of shed to hold thirty Ab locomotives. The conditions at Taihape are similar to that at Frankton. The shed accommodation is not nearly sufficient to provide for requirements, and the extension of the shed is urgently necessary. Wanganui, £10,000 : The extension of shed and provision of pits, roads, &c. Owing to shortage of shed accommodation a number of engines have to stand outside nightly. Napier, £8,000 : Extension of sheds and provision of pits, floor, roads, &c. The existing accommodation is insufficient for requirements. Invercargill, £45,000 : New engine-shed. The present depot is unsuitable and insufficient for requirements. £26,950 is required to meet expenditure to provide facilities at various smaller locomotive-depots. Workshop equipment, £108,000 ; smoke-diffusing plant, machinery, and coalingcranes, £45,000. This is to provide for the purchase of machinery for Newmarket, Petone, East Town, Napier, Addington, Hillside, Invercargill, Greymouth, Nelson, Picton, and Westport. The works to be charged to the Locomotive Branch (£460,000) will be carried out by the Maintenance Branch, and are estimated to take five years to complete. The expenditure for equipment (£108,000) will be spread over a similar period. The bulk of the expenditure under this head would in the ordinary course be an annual charge against the Additions to Open Lines vote, which will be relieved to the extent provided in the schedule. In regard to locomotive-depots, it may be stated that the employment of larger locomotives has rendered the provision of increased locomotive-shed accommodation a matter of necessity. The sheds built to accommodate the older type of locomotives were of limited capacity, and, except where new depots have been built of later years, the accommodation at the locomotive-depots generally is totally inadequate to meet present-day requirements. In consequence of the insufficiency of the accommodation provided, both in respect to capacity and equipment, at many of the depots, engines have to be left standing out in the open without cover of any kind, and the staff detailed to clean and otherwise attend to the engines are placed at great disadvantage in the performance of their duties. Modern and up-to-date coaling-cranes are required at ail the large depots, and when the immediate and essential requirements have been provided, for in the matter of shed accommodation and equipment, consideration will require to be given to the question of providing elevators and chutes for coaling locomotives. The provision of modern appliances of this type will involve a very considerable outlay for which no provision has been made in the schedule attached hereto. The position in regard to the workshops is similar to that obtaining in connection with locomotive-depots. They are cramped in respect to room. The