P.W.D. POLICY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 265, 2 July 1932, Page 6

P.W.D. POLICY

SECRETARY OF WORKERS UNION CONDEMNS GOVT. ACTION. GREAT WASTE ENTAILED. •

WELLINGTON, Friday. ffn the course of a statement to the press, Mr. A. Cook, secretary of the New Zealand Workers' Union, criticises the policy of the Government with regard to the abandonment of public works. He contends that certain works which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been completed in from twelve to eighteen months, will now take twice as long to finish and will prove more costly in the long run, owing to their being under-manned. Mr. Cook considers that. after so much money has been spent on the Waitaki hydro-electric scheme the only sensible policy to adopt is to complete the work and make its re-venue-producing at the earliest possible moment. Yet, he says, during the past few months man-power has been reduced by 50 per cent. and it vill probably be another five years instead of two before the work is completed. Referring to the Tawa Flat deviation, Mr. Cook says there can be no doubt that it is quite justifiable since its completion will mean a saving of £70,000 per annum, but it also is un-der-manned and will take another four years to complete instead of eighteen months or two years. He suggests that there would not be the slightest difficulty in raising an internal loan more than suffieient to complete the deviation and the Waitaki scheme without delay. In Mr. Cook's opinion, the compleThe Gisborne Line. tion of the Napier-Gisborne railway at a cost of one and a half million pounds should be proceeded with, as it could be done more cheaply now than at any future period. Many thousands of pounds' worth of workers' accommodation is going to ruin, and if the work' lies idle much longer it will cost £50,000 to rehabilitate. This applies also to the South Island Main Trunk, Mr. Cook maintains. The statement also deals with rates of pay and living costs on Public Works, and it is urged that married men with large families are finding it impossible to buy adequate food and clothing on 10s a day in isolated parts of the country. On the irrigation works in Central Otago, Mr. Cook alleges, the cost of living for the 300 men employed is quite 30 per cent. above that of the main ceritres. The facts were brought before the notice of the Minister of Public Works by a deputation from the New Zealand Workers Union and an investigation was promised, but, Mr. Cook adds, to the best of his knowledge, nothing was done.