PUBLIC WORKS ALLOCATION.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 297, 18 July 1929, Page 1

PUBLIC WORKS ALLOCATION.

SYSTEM OBJECTED TO.

“ Sitting on Parliament Steps.”

The final paragraph in the Matamata county engineer’s report as submitted to the July meeting of the council, to the effect that the county allocation of Public Works . grants for the year is £4480, as compared with £4825 for each of the previous years, was likely to cause some uneasiness as to the possible cause of this reduction in the “ automatic allocation ” caused Cr. Allen to state that the council should enter an emphatic protest against the reduction of the allocation.

The chairman (Cr. Anderson) said that an explanation had been made, but it was hard to follow.

The county engineer (Mr. M. E. Fitzgerald) said that he was afraid that the reason was to Joe found in a reversal to the days of 1922, when county council and other local body officials sat on the door steps of Parliamentary buildings. The amount kept for what was “ patronage ” purposes increased from £50,000 to £150,000. “ The appalling state of affairs of 1922 were apparently coming back again,” concluded the engineer. Cr. Allen said that as a deputation had waited on the Government in respect to this, matter, a protest coming from the council might assist. He moved that a protest be made to the Minister of Public Works (Hon. E. A. Ransom) against the present system of allocation. The motion' was carried unanimously.