The Press Monday, October 24, 1927. The Public Works Statement.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19139, 24 October 1927, Page 8

The Press Monday, October 24, 1927. The Public Works Statement.

The Public Works Statement presented to the House of Representatives on Friday is a long and rather dull document, of which the most conspicuous feature is the unusual amount of space given by the Minister to the highways problem. The fact that this is still a problem, and that the Legislature has not yet found a plan which will work smoothly and satisfactorily, ensuring good roads and an apportionment of the cost that will satisfy everyone, does not mean that.there has been any want of statesmanship. The road problem, simple enough, and satisfactorily enough handled up to the beginning of this century, has been suddenly and greatly complicated by the rapid development of the petroldriven vehicle. What was a good enough road system in the days of the horse is no longer good enough in these days of the motor-car; and county roads built for, and used by, the county residents are now used mainly by " outsiders." Important though the effect of the petrol-driven vehicle has been, the Department is scarcely justified in saying, through the , Minister, that the owners of motorvehicles are paying only one-half of the cost of the maintenance- which they make necessary. It" may :.-.■ true that since 1924 the increase in the cost of maintaining the highways is from £5 to £6 per annum for each additional motor-vehicle registered. But this,, may be due to the inadequate maintenance or weak construction of earlier years, and one cannot summarily charge the motor-cars with the whole additional cost. It is not quite clear that the Government proposes to do this, for in forecasting further taxation for highways maintenance the Minister does not say that the Government intends to get the money from the owners of motor-vehicles. This is a matter upon which, no doubt, some clear light will be thrown when the Statement is discussed by the House. It was inevitable that the Minister should make some reference to the relief works provided by his Department for the unemployed. The Department, he said, was once the dumping ground for unemployed men, with the result that the country paid dearly for inefficient work and did not reap even the advantage of banishing discontent. The view the Government now takes is that the Department should not be regarded as an organisation for the relief of the workless. "It is undesirable," as the Minister says, "that, too great a number of "workers should look to borrowed " money as the source from which they "should derive their livelihood." One may ask whether —leaving the relief, works out of account —the Department's operations are not from this point of view already more extensive than is desirable. During the financial year 1926-27 the Department's expenditure amounted to 62 millions. Provision is made, or will be made, for Avays and means for nearly 10 millions for the immediate future, and for many more millions thereafter—and nearly all of it loan money. A great deal of the Department's expenditure is necessary, and much of it genuinely profitable, but it is at least likely that the Dominion would bo better off if some of these endless millions were spent in the direct encouragement of rural production.