PUBLIC WORKS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXI, Issue 9847, 28 October 1924, Page 5

PUBLIC WORKS

IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY HON. J. O COATES.

ALL ABLE BODIED MEN IN WORK.

WARNING TO LOCAL BODY LOAN

“BOOSTERS.”

RATEPAYERS HAVE TO PAY IN THE LONG RUN.

ARE THERE TOO MANY LOCAL BODIES?

HINT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM.

WELLINGTON, Oct. 27. ‘Tn placing before you this my fifth annual statement of the activities of the Public Works Departanent,” said the Hon. J. G. Coates, in the House to-day, “I desire at the -outset to emphasize the fact that if .more money could reasonably be placed at my disposal, works in hand could be finished in less time, and others, which cannot now bo commenced, might be added to the year’s programme of work. “Much as wo all desire to see public works of every description expeditiously carried out. great caro must bo exercised in selection, and decisions arrived at only after ascertaining both the advantages 'to be derived from the completed works and the •country’s ability to meet the cost. Furthermore, New Zealand is now practically in the stage when all its ;able-bodied competent workers are fully employed. To increase the rate of expenditure means increasing the number of men employed by the Department on public works. Tills can only be achieved by taking men out of other avenues of employment, which would inevitably result in wage competition. Those who carefully observe what 'happened in the two years im- , mediately following the war—the high cost of works and the small out- ■ put of labor—will not, in the general interests of the people, willingly allow •such a state of affairs recur. If seems to me an economic necessity that :growth of production, population, revenues. and capital expenditure out or borrowed money should at least march together, hut it is undeniably better for the future of the country that capital expenditure should be kept strictly in arrear of the other factors. “Works of development are necessary in order to increase production, but very careful consideration must be given to so balance the developmental work with the manpower- available ' that the development of new works shall not bo hampered and yet at _ the same time that the country shall not arrive at a stage where a considerable .proportion of its breadwinners shall took upon borrowed money as their regular" source of livelihood. “It is especially worthy of notice that during the past year there lias been an absence of serious difference between the Department and its workers. Iti place of trouble there has been reason and understanding, to the mutual advantage of all concerned. _ “During the past year the Public Works Department has proceeded -vigorously with the multifarious activities within its sphere, and substantial progress has been made on railwav hydro-electric, irrigation, and road construction. Proportionately good progress has been made in the -other directions. “As a result of improved working and living conditions and more efficient organization of work the. world’s prices for plant and material are tending to become stabilized, though they flare not receded except in a very few instances, to the pre-war level. “The average amount of wark done by the men employed is steadily increasing and this, added to the fact that the number employed throughout the rear was considerably in advance of that for the previous year, has brought about the favorable results referred to. “As a rule, the district officers are called upon to carry out expenditure dn accordance with the amount of money placed at my disposal by tne Government, bu* in detail have a cor.siderable oiTiounfc of independence or action, and the highly practical and energetic way in which the staff sevs out its programme of work and coordinates the various items of each construction-work, large and small, shows that the organisation functions well and gives excellent service. “After having considered the matter from all points of view, I am of the opinion that it would be unwise to spend more this year than •000 on. railway . works, £832,000 on roads under my control, £500,000 on m'ain highways, and £1,133,146 on hvdro-electnc development. In ore mi, however, that works may be laid out in advance, and arrangements for monev, men. and material may be .systematically made, I have prepared a" co-ordinated programme extending over a number of years, and m accordance with tins programme I pioposo to proceed. “In last year’s statement I drew attention to the necessity of endeavouring to co-ordinate the expenditure on various transport-ways in order that after allowing for main-trunk transport-ways, both railway *nc| road, a-'l other transport-ways should be complementary to one another, and all leading to support the most economical and efficient, instead of, as_ is too often the case, competing with one another. My observations on this subject were made in tlio hope that it would receive the thought and consideration of those concerned. Such a state of affairs as exists now is perhaps the inevitable result of the driving energy of a people whose mforts have brought about a rate oi development- which, I belive, has never been equa'led in any other -country. The multiplicity of local governinor bodies is another iactoi. which has contributed in -marked ce--groe It is easy to be wise a.ter the ••event. It is not so easy to discover "the remedy, but it is never too soon to endeavour to do so. . <c As n. premise to consideration^ -the subject it must be .realised., tuat the country’s public indebtedness is -not merely the public debt to the Government, but that debt plus the debt •of every local body in New Zea, and. • For every pound of such debt the people must pay in one way or another. “While there exist so many authorities vested with borrowing and expending powers it is practically impossible to control the position or coordinate the result of such expenditure. , , , , “ft i s true that local bouy loans must have the sanction of the ratepavers, and that the ratepayers land ■ s "held as security for loan charges. While I do not for one moment sug. vest that ratepayers’ consent should be eliminated, .1 do assort that the ratepayer’s vote is a poor and unsatisfactory' system ot control.. ..It is -common knowledge that a great many leans —I venture to say. a majqi -ty■ure carried not only by the minority -of the ratepayers, but that the total votes polled for and against the pio- • pjy.il iy a minority of the total number of ratepayers concerned. Too often proposals to” raise large sums ol •raonev are nut forward without any real investigation as to the general -economic result of the expcndituic nnd its real advantage to the distiict concerned. Not infrequently expenditure “schemes” —and I use the word -advisedly—are put forward by enthusiastic “boosters” who entirely mislead the people, who will have to ■par in the long-run.. “It is usually asserted that so long -as ratepayers are prepared to tax their land‘tlie scheme must be sound, and in anv case it is the ratepaveis -concern. It is the ratepayers’ concern if theso >vho vote for the loan stay "to pay.lts charges. I have l.ttlc hesi-

tation in saying that these works are often commenced to give an inflated prospective value to lands, which, having been created temporarily, the promoters sell out at enhanced value and leave some one else to carry the burden . I may be permitted to recall a case which is typical. flip promoters of a big expenditure scheme were addressing a meeting of settlers with a view to obtaining their signatures to a statutory petition. One of the leading settlers assured the promoters that the settlers were willing to sign any petition and vote for any loan in order to get the railway which would enable them to sell their land . "When 1 asked the promoters to produfie the data on which they assured themselves that the railway would be a payable proposition, they had none to produce. -Needfdss to say, that railway is still only a proposal.

“If the sum of all charges on land, and the capacity of the land to pay, to any degree approximate one another under prosperous or even normal conditions, it is obvious that under any condition of adversity the margin of security disappears. Unless there he some means of comprehensive survey and regulation of total public indebtedness to considerations of population, land-values, productiveness. and average value of products, the position will remain unsatisfactory and may even become one of grave concern. I do not suggest that such a position lias been reached or anything approaching it, but I do suggest that it is better to plan now some method of control which will obviate such a possibility than to bewail when it is too late. “I have sufficient knowledge of the wealth with which nature has endowed this country and faith in its people and their resource to believe that it can bear with comfort a considerably greater indebtedness; but the money must be spent wisely on a plan which has had.the most careful consideration of the factors I have mentioned, and which fits in with a comprehensive scheme of develop-ment-work. What we cannot afford is piecemeal, ill-considered expenditure dictated by local ambitions and without reference to what work is being planned or under wav in the next watertight compartment. “The Main Highways Act is the first legislative step in the direction I have indicated. Instead of each country working independently, the District Highways Council considers reading from the point of view of best serving the interests of a number of grouped counties, while the Highways Board is enabled to co-ordinate the work of groups. But this measure of control operates only in regard to one avenue of expenditure—namely, roadwork —and that oray on roads which are declared main highways. There still remain all other roads.

“I have great hopes, when once this scheme is in full operation, and its benefits realised, that it will result in amalgamation oi many counties, even perhaps to the extent of amalgamaous groups. By this means it will be tion of ail countries within the vanpossible to vastly improve the standard of staff efficiency and organisation, and that must surely result m better and cheaper work on a more comprehensive plan. I believe it to be an urgent measure of local government reform that we should reduce the total number of local governing bodies which exist within" one another’s boundaries, overlap, and to a considerable extent duplicate oue another’s work As an indication of this necessity I have but to point to the fact that we have one hundred and eighteen boroughs and cities, seventyone town boards, one hundred and twenty-nine counties, thirty-five road boards, fift3 T -nine drainage boards, and forty-nine river boards, all with their separate staffs, plant, and overhead charges, “It is obvious that a very considerable percentage of these bodies could be done without and their work absorbed by the remaining local authorities. There are also some thirty-nine harbor boards in existence constituted as such by special legislation and, in addition, there are fourteen othc-r harbors in respect of which the local authority is delegated with and carries out the powers and functions of n harbor board. Even some of the specially constituted harbor boards could have carried on satisfactory under the administration of an existir.o- local authority. “‘Possibly the time has net yet arrived for the organisation of a local o-overnment board, but it does seem to me that we should take into early consideration the creation of a pian whereby no local authority may proceed with the raising of a loan until the proposal has been first submitted to experts for investigation, in to ascertain whether (a) the work. propcsccUs sound from an engineering point of view; (b) it is justified ,t°the cost estimated, having regard to existing services'; (c) it is economically sound, having regard to its value to the district concerned and the capacity of the district to pay for it; and (d) (if applicable) it fits m and forms part of a comprehensive plan of relative works. Assuming all these motors to be answered by the expert investigators in the affirmative, and tlio raising of the loan concurred in by the Treasury, who would maintain a record of all public loan indebtedness, actual and prospective, the way would then be clear for the local body to submit the issue to the ratepayers, who would have an assurance which they.do not have now. . ‘Tn conclusion, I have, assisted by the officers, of the Department, endeavoured to so direct the forces under my control and the cxpcudituie of moneys appropriated by Parliament to obtain twenty shillings worth of result for every pound spent. 1 have to the best of my judgment carried out the work's which will return tlio best results in aiding general Dominion prosperity and. in the improvement of the conditions and pi o-ducing-powers of those who are notes favourably situated as those ol our citizens who carry on their activities within easy reach of the well established markets or hr.es or communication. Confidently I look forward. to a year of satisfactory pro, mess du-sing which I will again be “uided in my administration by a determination to do all that is possible to produce tlio greatest good foi Abe greatest number, while at the samtime not forgetting the ‘undei dog.’ ”