The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1927. PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 February 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1927. PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES.

Tice interesting return puolislied in tho Monthly Abstract of Statistics, showing the number of Public Works employees, affords some indication of the location of operations which that important Department has in hand. Itdoes, not, comments the Lyttelton Times, cover all the ground, for the simple reason that, at the present time, some of the largest public undertakings are being carried out by contract. The erection of the great dam across the Waikato River and other works in connection with the Arapuni liydro-electrie scheme, as well as the construction of a section of the East Coast railway between Atlirenee and Tauranga, are contracts, but the location of these works should be borne, in mind when the activities of the Public Works Department are under consideration. The latest figures of men employed provide evidence of the extent to which the Government is concentrating its efforts in the north.

As far as it is possible to analyse them thev give the following results: AM. S.I. Railways 2(720 235 Hoads 1138 GGO Hydro-electric works .. 12-10 139 It u ill be seen that in these throe branches of public work the. number employed in the North Island totals 530.1 and in the Smith Island 10:11. Iho employees are divided iiuo two seel ions—artisans and labourers —there being 1020 and 5318 respectively. Ami !)!7 of the artisans employed were ill ilie mirth nild only 10fl in the smith. The distribution of the men is interesting. When the return was prepared there woke nearly four times as many artisans employed on railway work in North Auckland than there were in thd whole of the South Island. the figures being 102 and 27 respectively, and there were almost twice as many labourers —101 in North Auckland. and 208 in the South Island. Deviation work between Auckland and Westfield employed 385 nrtisahs niitl labourers, while the total number employed in Auckland province was 1003, as against 235 in the southern part of the Dominion. 'The same marked difference is found in the numbers employed oil road construction works. There are more labourers engaged by the Department in the Whangarei road district than in Canterbury and Otago put together. The classification given ivy tiic Government Statistician does not pdriiit of detailed analysis, hecflu.se of employees in. say, the Taumarnnui district mav be working either in tlie Auckland or the Wellington province. but taking the figures as set out in the Abstract the distribution of Public Works employees is ns follows • Auckland flfllfl Remainder of North Island 1989 South Island ... 1031 These figures plainly indicate that the Government is concentrating to a most marked extent upon work- in the north, the operations requiring the services of more men in Auckland than in tlio rest of the Dominion. The increase in tile grand total of Public Works em-ployees—-there being about 82.5 more when the latest report was prepared than a year ago—may he due to several causes, unemployment among them, but the figures supply one reason whv population drifts northward. Public money is being spent there and that is a great attraction. They also provide grounds for important questions. Mr Coates has admitted that the line to connect Westport with the South Island railway system is one of the most important, yet while over 500

men are employed on railway work in North Auckland, and over 700 in the Bay of Plenty twenty-nine men arc considered sufficient for the WbstportInangahua section. If the number of men employed indicates the Government's order of importance in the matter of railway construction, then the Westport connection ranks about equal with deviation work at Palmerston North, and the. completion of the isolated line between Wairoa and Waikokopu.