More Work For 1928

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 245, 6 January 1928, Page 8

More Work For 1928

UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM

Important Public Projects

PROSPECTS of relief from the disastrous wave of unemployment suggest one direction in which 192 S will be a better and brighter year than 1927. Of the big constructional undertakings which have given employment, in and around Auckland, for thousands of men in the immediate past, few are likely to finish this year, and there is a prospect that others will he started.

ROAD works will absorb more men this year if the implied promise made with the imposition of the petrol tax is fulfilled. When petrol was made subject to the levy of fourpence a gallon, the Government gave a specific undertaking that the revenue therefrom would be devoted to road works, and Auckland should get a large share of the money available for new works. In spite of the general improvement in the condition of the highroads of New Zealand, there are still many miles of bad or indifferent roads. Holiday motorists, after jolting in misery

k m m -Ak fif Ak Ak Ak fit at IK Ak Ak Ak lit Ak over some of the worst stretches, know how badly improvement is needed. The funds raised by the petrol tax were, according to a Ministerial statement made at the time, to be directed principally toward improvement of road conditions in the backblocks, but there will still be space for a lot of attention to - main highways, and further surfacing in permanent materials will doubtless occupy a large share of the programme. North Auckland, and outlying districts such as Coromandel, will probably have attention when back roads are being improved, and on main highways there is still work to be done near Auckland As a result, a considerable amount of Auckland labour should be absorbed. CITY UNDERTAKINGS

Within the city there are Important works on the constructional schedule for 1928. Foremost is the city railway station, for which the contract will be let within a few months. The big job, far the biggest of its kind in New Zealand, should keep a large number of men going over a period of years.

Railway projects such as the new goods shed proposition, and the workshops job at Otahuhu, are already keeping large numbers of workers engaged, and on these there should be no serious diminution of the size of the forces until at least the close of the winter. The close of the goods shed job, now under -way, will be followed by the erection of a similar structure elsewhere in the Auckland railway yards, so that the finish of the first undertaking should be balanced by the starting of the second.

Though the job would have been under way had the programme been up to time-table, the city tunnel from Beach Road to Morningside is unlikely to be started this year. Residents of outlying suburbs to the north have shown close interest in this proposal, because its development will greatly reduce their travelling time to and from the city. Tedious shunts at Newmarket will be eliminated, and electric suburban trains will supersede the plant in use to-day. Showing their interest in practical form, citizens of northern suburban communities sent a deputation to the Prime Minister during the winter, but the best assurance that Mr. Coates cpuld give the inquirers was a hint that financial tightness would cause the starting of the project to be delayed. It is, however, distinctly promising that railway surveyors should lately have been busy taking levels in the Newton gully, where one entrance to the tunnel will be located. This may justify the inference that a brighter financial outlook has been found to warrant earlier preparation of the work. STUDYING THE MARKET In Auckland itself the two large employers of labour are the City Council and the Harbour Board. In setting out their programmes, these two local bodies study the labour market as far as possible, and, where possible with w-orks that are not in the urgent class, they spread the items so that the labour employed will be kept at a constant level. The City Council's largest works at present are in the development of the waterworks system, where the Lower Nihotupu project will be the next instalment of the works. Both the City Council and Harbour Board will, as far as possible, maintain their staffs at present size, and may even add to them if urgent works develop. The Harbour Board’s next really big work is the construction of the railway wharf, planned to be started two or three years hence, but in the more immediate future a new city vehicular ferry terminal will be built as soon as the Devonport ferry piers are finished. Work will still be maintained, during the year, on the waterfront road, railway deviation, and Arapuni hydroelectric schemes, three of the major constructional jobs now on hand in the Dominion. The important scheme of railway construction works is also to be maintained, and these should improve the situation for nearly all classes of labour.