The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1922. THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 31 January 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1922. THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT

The Public Works Statement, year byyear in reserved for the closing period of the session. On this occasion the session is unduly late, and as a c onse- ' ,q uence we have the Statement for the financial yoar, brought down ten months after the year has been running and within two months of its close. This ill adjustment of the administration does not give a very accurate view of the position so f&E present circumstances -warrant. In the same way the supporting reports from the principal officers of the Department are published long after being compiled, with the result that much stale news is now published Something more up to date than this method of administration is surely needed, and as the Hon. Minister of Publio Works is bent on reforms within his Department, here is a matter on which he might well act with useful results so far as public knowledge and information of the workings of his Department are concerned. The report presented to the House on Friday, shows that despite the financial stringency in regard to Dominion fin- ' .ances, the expenditure has been kept

up, and reached a total of £3,140,574 —which was a record for New Zealand Mo r e remarkable still is the statement that the estimated expenditure for the current year—only two months of which are left—is £5,490,080. When • we read daily of the necessity for economies, and see practiced hereabouts economies in the miblic works expen-' diture, we can only marvel at these two groups of figures, and wonder how it is all done. Where are the loaves and fishes going. These seems to be a good deal to explain about the Public Works Statement, but very little was said to the House. Both the Statement and the Estimates were rushed through at break neck speed as if there were something to hide. On the face of it a good deal of explanation was necessary first to show how the money was being provided from an allegedly “empty” Treasury, and second, where the money was going. The reforms in administration are again promised. The backblocks allocation of money, which the Liberals introduced as a necessity to foster settlemnt and development, and which the Reformers cut out, is to be introduced' again under another guise. A new system is to be observed also, in regard to railway expenditure by concentrating on half-finished lines to bring them to a point of utility much quicker than is usually the case. This is the policy which has been advoated all along by us in regard to the Midland Railway, but up to the last year or so, the Government made no effort to speed up. It was palpable that the works were short handed, while works in more favoured districts in the North Islnad were kept fully manned. Apropos of the Otira works there is no information conveyed to the public when the hill will be in operation. The platelaying is to be finished next month, and the ballasting by March, but no estimate is given when the line will be opened. Could not the Hon. Minister apply his scheme of concentration here ,and by determining that the line shall be open in six or eight months’ time at the latest, see that' ~'t is done! It is a fine opportunity to test the concentration scheme. The Public Works Statement as wo read it, is not a convincing document. It recounts too much ancient history, and does not disclose that intimacy with a progressive policy which a document of such vital importance should do in our opinion.