The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1920. THE ESTIMATES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3616, 1 November 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1920. THE ESTIMATES.

With which is tecorporated "The Taffeape Post and Waimarino News "

There is ample cause for much' serious thought given in the Public Works Statement, and the allocations of money for the carrying out of new works and completion of old works during the current financial year. Time was when it was public and general legislative opinion that the whole of New Zealand should be developed as simultaneously as practicable, giving no district, east or west ; -north or south, any appreciable advantage in the (expenditure of .public money; nor was any settled portion <of the country allowed to suffer from neglect when money available for roads and railways was in course of .allocation. Since then, however, .a "spoils to victors:' ' policy has grown sto dimensions that would not have been tolerated in ■older times # Those were:not times of subterfuge and chicanery; with whatever section in the House men arraigned themselves it was quite superfluous to ask them whether they would give all parties a "square deal." It is not at all suggested that Members of the present Parliament have motives' for their actions any less honourable than Members of oldtime Parliaments, but circumstances, have, by want of some -care ana thought, been turned distinctly to their disfavour. By some unfortunate chance those political planitary sys--mis of which ."Ministers are the central suns, all of which revolve arounft the greater luminary at Franklin, have scooped just about half the money available for expenditure on roads and bridges, leaving the other half to be divided by the whole of the remainder of the Dominion. It is still further unfortunate to"have to note that while Ministers have "been followed Tight down the East;Coast' to the Tauranga county, a satellite of the Hon. Mr Herries, similar good fortune does not extend down the'[West Coast as far as Taranaki, where ithere are no Ministerial Suns to attract public money into their orbit. A worse discrepancy is notable in the proposed expenditure for land settlement, for out of a total sum of £250,000, the northern. Ministerial districts have absorbed no less than £166,000, leaving for the southern part .of the North Island, and- for the South Island the mean sum of £BI,OOO. Railways that would obviously disadvantageously affect the j flow of business Aueklandwards, are . being left, severely alone, and, although no sensible person would accuse Cabinet Of design aforethought, it is remarkable that half the available taxation raised from the people of the.whole of this Dominion in the current, year, is to he spent in boosting ,the business interests of Auck--1 land. It is beyond question that Such expenditure of revenue must materJ-

ally increase property values of every kind, whether they be land, commercial or manufactures, to the disadvantage of the remainder of New Zealand. As an indication that, the Estimates have now become the understood outeo'nte of the political grab 01 public revenue, it need only be remarked that'Members for constituencies in the favoured localities, right

j down to Gisborne, applaud the Ministerial method of dividing ths spoils one for the Auckland hat, one for the tattered headgear of the remainder of the Dominion. The Minister for Public Works repudiated the idea that ! public revenue should, as far as prnaj ticable, be expended amongst the tax- | payers from whom it was levied. He j thought it should be expended where ; he considered it would give the best returns. That was a lucky thought for the Minister himself, for he lives Tight in the North Auckland territory, and will of course be personally able j to testify to the excellent returns his expenditure of public revenue has resulted in. He knows from first hand experience that expenditure in North Auckland, where he lives, will give good results, but he is not so equipped with knowledge of other districts , that would enable him to speak witTi , definiteneks, v He has a doubt whetner i any other part of New Zealand really needs any of the public revenue. bSt i •he has been generous enough, after having taken about half for Auckland's benefit, fo pitch the other half over to the people of the remainder of the Dominion. He is bent upon carrying on a successful public works pol- j : oy. but such a determination can only be intended to apply to -that part o* New Zealand he has some knowledge of; public works in other parts may be ever so successful but they must of necessity be insignificant as compared with the boom in public work that is to be created in Auckland at

the whole expense. We differ entirely with 'the Minister's state-

ment about it being unfortunate that he came from Auckland, for his political genesis strikes tis as being the greatest stroke of luck he could very Well wish for. The Minister need not assume that the great sin of the Estimates will be laid entirely upon Kalpara. The constituency the Hon. Mr Coates lias to please is a difficult one: the land was so bad in much of it that the sheepfarmers had to farm gorse. They planted if. |a rows as permanent pasture, and they scwud it thickly to be grown for hay. We have undeniable evi/lonce tb t Kaipara will grow, gorse if everything else fails, and knowing what we do about Kaipara we .should deserve to be called uncharitable if we seriously objected to that district getting a little more than its just share of what the Miniser has available to spend on public works. We contend without fear of truthful denial that the men Avho took up Kaipara land to farm some twenty-eight or thirty years ago were indeed plucky, they were of the stuff the best class of pioneers .are m de of. If we remember aright the men who, as a last resort tried gorse, came of the noted Williams family of pioneers, who have probably made money because they richly 'deserved to make it If the Minister can ensure better returns from expenditure of public money in Kaipara than .he could from expenditure around Taihape we are satisfied that 'he is a genius, and deserves much more encouragement than he is likely To get. It is only on some such line''of reasoning as! this that the Government's one-sided allocation of money 'available for public works is understandable. The House, after hearing the Minister passed the 'whole exependiture, as allocated, in about the shortest time on record, in ten minutes "bang',' went the whole year's allocations, and Members and Ministers went home to sleep the sleep of the just.