PUBLIC WORKS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2531, 4 August 1915, Page 5

PUBLIC WORKS

GOING 'ON : AS USUAL. "Public works are going on at the usual rate of progress/' said the Minister ] of P.ublic AYorks yesterday. "Wherever unemployment is brought under my notice work is beiug found for wen. There is very littio 'unemployment just uow, but I think that probably one of the reasons for this is that I put 800 men on Government works last mouth. Our greatest difficulty is to find employment for artisans, such as painters and plasterers. The amount of employment which the Government can givo to such men is very limited. I have re-started the road works near Christchurch, part of the cost of which is being paid by the local bodies, and these works are giving employment to a certain number of married men: Very soon, as the spring advances into summer, there must be a considerable demand for labour from the country settlers, and all unemployment difficulties should disappear. '.'The Public Works Estimates are all prepared, and are now being printed," Mr. Eraser continued. "I am taking authorities for expenditure, in the hope that the money may bo available. If wc get the money I shall then have authority to spend it. If we can't get it, wo can't spend it. Last year I went on the samo plan, and it worked out very, successfully."