Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

The Dominion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1918. PUBLIC WORKS

Is compiling the Statement which he laid ; before Parliament on Thursday : night, . the Minister ov PutiLic ffouKS would have been well advised to look a little further ahead. The significance of his ob-soi-vafcions is largely reduced by the fact 'that they relate almost extii!siyely to conditions which will terminate fin the comparatively near future—sooner, indeed, than the Minister himself He is hardly up to date in saying; as he does that ''a considerable period must necessarily elapse before we can hope to see any appreciable number of our soldiers back in New Zealand." The imeasiness/tliis statement is calculated to awaken is to some extent however, by an assurance that ample provision has been made, both on the - Estimates and in the Public Works Fund, to.ensure that work will be available for all who need it.' This is good as far as it goes, but. at a time when it is so evidently neces- • sary that the country, should throw all'possible energy into, works of national development something more might have been ,looked for in the Public Works than a routine survey qj past and current operations ,-;rid. a bald assurance that additional works will be put in hand, .is sopn as conditions', permit. _ i h the current Statement the hardly ever goes beyond limits, except in his refercnves to hydro-electrical dcvelopmc'jt in the North Island. The exception is ; noteworthy,-but what is. Vicedcd is an assurance that the Public Works Department s is actively preparing,- not in one direction only but in regard to tho whole scope of development work, to cope with new conditions and meet demands in some respects much more onerous than those made upon it in the past. What the ] Minister has to say ".bout the operations of the war period calls for little comment. During the first half of this period expenditure on public works was, in the. circumstances, well maintained. In. 1916-17 expenditure on roads and bridges and on railways fell away to a serious extent, as much, or more, on account of a shortage of labour-asbecausc of financial stringency. 'Expenditure on public ijuildings also showed a "decrease, but one which there was no. reason to During the financial year .19,17-18 there was a further reduction in expenditure, particularlywarked in the case of roads and bridges.-, The following table , shows the sums expended year by year, on ' roads and bridges, public buildings, and railways since 1912-13:

. . 'Bonds and . . Bridges. ..Buildings. Eailwuys. ■ U j> r. 11)13 :i;'l7,sSi ' .115,192 IyMB,B3i! I'JU ' 353,8:11)' 3li!),li00 ■ 1,111 Wil7 1915 '~...'. .ie-UGiJ '. • .t;jl,9(i(i ' 1-,U6,7j3 IBVr ■■i.'.,-.; : -400,062 ."135-759 " ' 1,'06.),171 1917 203;74G' ' ' 256,131'• K2f1,!)47 I'JIS ...... 135,642' 229,288 007,491 The greatly reduced expenditure on roads and bridges is a very serious matter for tfackblocks settlers, the more so s-ihec during the past two. years Mich damage has been done to ro'ids and bridges by floods. On all grounds,'in order that burdened settlers may" bo relieved and the paved for additional 'settlement, and as an item in-repatria-tion policy, it is urgently necessary that the works which have been, postponed ,' should be prosecuted with all possible'energy and speed. Ways and means-in sight for the current year total £3,500,000. The •Minister estimates ■ an expenditure on public works' (excluding separate accounts having their own ways and means) of £2,46o,ooo,.leaving' a balance of- over a million to he carried forward: to- 1919-20. The • estimated expenditure for the "current year is moro than twice the corresponding expenditure in 1917-18, "but since eight' months of the year have passed under conditions adverse to the active, prosecution of public works it is likely that, much more than , a million will be carried forward. ■•-.

_ The Public Works Department is in a position to absorb a- big body of- labour as soon as! it becomes available. .This is satisfactory a s . far' x as it goes,' but it does not fully meet demands. In the conditions •the Dominion is about to face it will be necessary not only-to increase tho expenditure of public money ori development'works, but to scrutinise methods hitherto in vogue and free-. ly | revise or change them where they are shown to be inefficient. It is one of the first essentials of. a real development policy that the Public W,orks Department should be relieved of the. duty of scattering petty votes all over the country, and should be remodelled on such lines as Would fit it-to.carry out .national works in a national way. Much of the work that now engages its attention might be transferred with advantage to local bodies, and in carrying out the greater works that fall naturally within its sphere the Department; should \ bo freed from the. crippling, necessity of satisfying the endless demands of dozens of competing localities. When he spoke in Parliament the other day upon the hydro-electrical scheme, Sir Wu.mam 'Fuareii said that the Chief Electrical Engineer was strpngly of opinion that the undertaking should be managed by a board on business lines. Properly managed, it would be a source of great wealth and prosperity to the country.- If it were not managed on business lines it might involve .the country in actual.loss. Although thnre must, of course, b'u some distribution of effort in carrying out development works in' a country circumstanced as New Zealand, .is these observations apply with as much force to most of 'the other activities in which the Public Works Department is engaged as to hydroelectric development. They apply notably to railway .construction. For many years railways have been constructed in this country, under conditions absolutely inconsistent with efficiency.and the best results. We arc , bound to discard such methods in favour of n moro businesslike procedure if New Zealand is to take, the rapid strides in development .which are necessary in order that it may bear its. war burdens in reasonable comfort and keep pace with the movement of a progressive age. The questions raised .are, of course, national. It rests with the Government and Parliament in general, and not solely with the Minister of Piriiuc: Wohks, to establish development wol'k on », .sound..basis. .Bill, the reforms' "which have been touched, upon nn; called for insistently. In the" strenuous

years now to be faced the Dominion will riot progress as it should unless the Public Works Department becomes much less the instrument of political, expediency unci much more the servant of the people of New Zealand than it lias been in t)ie ( past. :

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19181207.2.25

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 62, 7 December 1918, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,069

The Dominion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1918. PUBLIC WORKS Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 62, 7 December 1918, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1918. PUBLIC WORKS Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 62, 7 December 1918, Page 6

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert