PUBLIC WORKS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 537, 2 August 1872, Page 3

PUBLIC WORKS.

I purpose to consider in this communication the question of Public Works ; to determine their nature, objects, and economic uses, and thus to ascertain whether they are—as they have been represented to he—a panacea for the ills and disorders, with which, it is alleged, the country is inflicted. Public Works— as the formation of Roads, Railways, &c , —are works undertaken for the promotion of general utility and convenience, the execution of which is sanctioned, though they are not necessarily either originated or constructed by the Government. In England in ancient times the County Courts had the control and authorisation of the Public Works. In the records of Parliament of the 12th and 13th centuries there are. numerous instances of the County Representatives presenting petitions to the Kings against the taxes for bridge building, whence we may infer that, amongst the great Barons and laud-owners who assembled at the County Courts, there was a Public Works party, which, like the “progressive” party, among colonial politicians of recent times, were in the habit of putting theirhands into the pockets of the people, without their full and free consent. This practice of ancient times—though then arbitrarily exercised—embodies a sound and practical principle, viz.—raising the money for Public Works by a special tax on the ccmmunity ; and then if the people generally acquiesce in this taxation, it is presumable that the works are necessary and of public benefit. The Public Works of the United Kingdom o f the present (lay—Canals, Turnpike Roads, Railways, &c., —being first sanctioned by Parliament—have been designed and constructed, and are managed by the private enterprise and with associated capital of the moneyed classes. But this system is suited to an old and populous country, rich in material resources and possessing a large accumulation of surplus capital, but it is not well adapted to the circumstances of new countries ; and in the British Colonies in recent times, Public Works, as Roads, Bridges, &c., have been constructed under the supervision of the Government, and the proceeds of the land revenue have been appropriated for defraying the expenditure thus incurred. This modification of the Wakefield plan of colonization operates in an efficient and intelligible manner, if judiciously administered, adapting itself to the progress of settlement, and to the varying resources and circumstances of the colonies. The Wakefield system above referred to, assumes that capital—i.e. money or goods—will seek investment in the purchase and utilization of the lands of a colony, provided there is a supply of labour available for its purposes. But, as in the early periods of settlement labour cannot bo procured in sufficient quantity or at a reasonable price, Wakefield proposod,to keep up the price of land to 1/. per acre, and apply the proceeds to the introduction of labourers. This policy has a double object, first to raise a'fund for immigration, and secondly, to prevent the dispersion of the class of labourers over the lands, by making the land high in price and therefore difficult of attainment. The modern practice is to supply the principal part of the land fund to the construction of Public Works, and thereby finding employment for the class of labourers after their arrival in the colony. The original theory supposes that the immigrants should be employed by the private capitalists, who had purchased laud. The merits or the demerits of the Wakefield theory are not now under considers-• tion.’but it may he observed that it embodies -several useful, practical, and self adjusting principles. The quantity of the land alienated or leased by the Government is a measure of the capital introduced or accumulated, and also of the expenditure legitimately incurred in Public Works and Immigration. The limit of the capital invested in the purchase or leasing of the public lands prescribes the limits to the amount of the public expenditure in Public Works. Thus isteffeoted a transformation of the natural capital of the country into constructions of general and permanent utility. The purchase money of the land is virtually refunded to the settlers, by the roads, tc., made for their accommodation, and by the labor which is brought to their doors. Public works cannot in any proper sense ho designated “reproductive;” that is, do not, by the value of any product, restore the value of capital and labor cm ployed in their construction. Is is only by the facilities afforded to production and conveniences of intercommunication, and consequently hy an indirect operation, that, they confer advantages. Their productiveness is an incidental, not a necessary or essential feature in their character. Like oil on the wheels of a machine, they facilitate movements hy removing natural obstacles, and smoothing the path of progress and public enterprise. It is the improvements effected hy new and more efficient constructions that gives to -public works their claim to pecuniary value or re-productiveness. If the purposes for which they are devised are more perfectly and more readily accomplished—public necessities and cost of construction being taken into consideration—the differential advantage is an economic gain, and thus has a relative pecuniary value which may be fairly credited as the profit of the improvements. It is therefore the difference of advantage which gives to Public Works any claim to be characterised as re-productive. Essentially they are absorbent, not creative. They convert “circulating” into “fixed” capital, i.e., take the money that would otherwise be expended in private enterprise and industrial development, or in improving the condition and circumstance.*,

ahd increasing the comforts and conveniences or luxuries of the people. When Public Works are undertaken by the Government of a country, though they may be incidentally re-productive, their reproductiveness ought not to be a principal object of their construction. The mere beneficial distribution of accumulated capital or the special uses for which the .works are designed, and not the creation of revenue, should be the chief consideration. The capital invested should be permanently “ fixed,” and any tolls, rates, or charges levied onthecommunityforservices afforded by the new constructions, such as roads, railways, &c., should not exceed the amount required for the expenses of repairing the dilapidations occasioned by their use and by the agency of natural causes. Is it asked whji this should be the case ? Why Government should not make profits and derive revenue from the expenditure of public money? I answer, 1, That Government ought not to be traders; not only on account of the incompetency of a few individuals to supervise, control, and manage economically the multifarious details of business transaction, but because it tends to confer monopoly wdiich checks private enterprise, and imperils the interests of trade. 2, It is productive of political evils, by creating classes directly interested in the expenditure of public money ; who are not responsible, and in fact, are entirely regardless of the necessity or usefullness of the works to the general community, and thus factious combinations are created both in the country and in the Legislature; and the free action of the Executive is controlled by “log-rolling” within the walls of the Houser of Parliament, and by the.despotism of the “caucus” outside. The consequences of these evils existing in the state—are—extravagance in the public expenditure, and the oppression of the community by undue exactions and taxation for unessential or chimerical advantages. It is the duty of a rational and patriotic government—when no imperious necessity dictates the public measures—before ermmitting the country to large expenditure on works or other objects, not absolutely essential to tbe purposes of administration and tbe public security, to determine whether the advantages—sooial, political, or economical—of the proposed measures are sufficient to warrant their execution ; and also, whether the circumstances of the country—the productiveness of labor and general prosperity will justify the diversion of a portion of the annual accumulations of capital into fixed and permanent investments : not necessarily reproductive by any immediate return o' pecuniary profit, but by creation of advantages social and economical, and removing difficulties in the path of—and progress equalizing the conditionsof success in directly ministering to tho general welfare of the community. AGRICOLA. ,