THE PUBLIC WORKS FUND.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1822, 7 August 1913, Page 6

THE PUBLIC WORKS FUND.

During the reccsp some of th&imore unscrupulous of. the opponents of the Government have attempted to make capital against tho Reform party by circulating misleading and inaccurate statements alleging that public works were being starved. Tho Minister for Finance, in tho Budget last evening, showed the position of the Public Works Fund when' the Government came into office, the expenditure which had taken place under the fund during the year and its position on March 31 last when tho financial year closed. The figures show conclusively the unjustifiable nature of the attacks made on Ministers, more especially of course tho Minister for Public Works. Briefly put the position of tho Public Works Fund is as follows: — £ Balance at. beginning o£ year 82,580 Receipts during, year 3,374,971 Expenditure 2,830,810 Balance at end of year 626,741 Of the balance at the end of the year nearly £250,000 was required for redemption of debentures due on April 15 last. If allowance is made for this and for the liabilities at the end of the year, which totalled £673,933, it will bo seen tljat even with £994,774 of loan money to be received the Government had worked down to a very fine point, and spent, the funds available as fast as prudence warranted. The actual expenditure on public works during the past five years was as follows: —

Year. - ,£ 1908-09 2,183,24,5 1909-10 2,022,876 1910-11 1,891,918 1911-12 2,200,745 1912-13 2,378,539 . It; will be seen from these figures that public works were pushed on at least as rapidly as in previous years. As a matter of fact, at'tho end of the year the state of tho Public Works Fund by no n;?ans indicated that it was glutted with money: — £ Balance 376,9G5 Loan money to receive 994,774 1,371,739 Liabilities 673,933 Lea ring available 697,806 This is a comparatively small sum for public works purposes, and the Government proposes to meet the requirements for tho current year by supplementing it with £675,000 to be transferred from the surplus in the Consolidated Fund and by raising a loan for £1,750,000. This will make the total available for public works £3,122,800, which should fully meet requirements without wholly exhausting the fund. In the Budget tho Minister for Finance states that "the Government has determined on a policy of progressive development of tho Dominion's resources, and will not fail to make provision for the necessities of settlers, workers, local authorities, and public works generally," and it is very plain that so far as development under tho Public Works Fund is concerned there will be no occasion to complain of lack of enterprise on the part of Ministers in providing ways and means.