THE RETRENCHMENT SCHEME

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 133, 3 July 1909, Page 6

THE RETRENCHMENT SCHEME

EXIT ROADS AND BRIDGES DEPARTMENT. I The Clifton County Council had a light business day, ami U u . monotonous conversation, about bygone details was not inopportunely broken by u visit from Air. \V. X: Jennings, M.P. Mr. Jennings brought under tire notice of the Council tue following statement published by the Wellington Evening Post:—

"Tlie retrenchment policy of the Government, so far as it allects Public Works and Roads and Bridges Dcnartment, will take ellect almost mi,,,,.,,,, ately. The officials concerned are spread over the length and breadth of t.ie country, wherever the requirements of the population have led to a road or a bridge being constructed, and it is impossible to arrive at anv exact idea of the number of public servants who will he displaced by the process of amalgamation.

'•As a matter of fact, the Roads and Bridges Department .utirc:, disappears, and anything that it used 'to do which still requires to be done will be carried out by the Public Works Department. This rearrangement does not \-\ any way carry with it the suggestion that the Government is going back on its k undertaking to spend a quartet >n a ,million a year on road construction works. That policy will, it is understood, still he carried out, but it will be done at a less expense so far as administration is concerned. The principle adopted is that the work shall be done as far as possible by the local bodies, whose plans will be submitted to the Public ■Works Department for necessary approval, and lie subject to any modification or alteration which the Department considers to be necessary. When the Department has finally approved of the plans, the local body will carry out the work. Thus a considerable saving will be effected in administrative expenses. The work- done by the local body will be under the supervision of tlie Public Works Department, and it is work of roading and bridging the country will be carried out at a minimum of expense for administration, and a maximum of consideration for local needs. In cases where roads are to be made independently of local bodies, the work will be carried out by the Public Works Department." Mr. Jennings referred to the change as an important one, undoubtedly, but one which did not greatly appeal to him at first glance. The chairman said ne had seen some reference to the propsal, and had intended mentioning it to the Council later in the day. No official notification if the change had been received. Mr. Jennings said there was no doubt I of the correctness of the statement, for i it had been mentioned to members of Parliament in Wellington a fortnigat ago.

Councillor Hunter expressed the opinion that if the Council had to undertake all the work in connection with new roads it' would he necessary to Keep a man for the express purpose of applying for grants and loans. The chairman doubted whether the county councils would have the same .influence in securing grants as had been exercised by district rond engineers under the old system. Mr. G. T. Murray, the district engineer in Taranaki, was frequently through the back country and aware of its necessities, and he made the necessary recommendations for grants for new tracks, and so on. Would the council's recommendation carry the same weight? Mr. Jennings said it seemed to him that the position would not be changed, the councils' applications having to be reported on by a departmental officer before adoption.

The chairman remarked that under this new system the local requirements, as understood by local bodies' representatives, ought to be better considered.

In answer to Mr. Dowsett, the county engineer, Mr. Jennings said he could hot say whether the Government's new scheme would involve taking over the main arterial roads. . That was the thing that he had long advocated. The chairman hoped that the retrenchment scheme of the Government was not going to have the effect of hampering the progress of roadrag.

Councillor Hunter would welcome the change if it would have, as he expected it would have, the effect of abolishing or reducing co-operative labor, a system on which thousands of pounds were wasted every year.

Councillor O'Sullivan conihatted this view, and advanced the theory that we were only at the beginning of the days of co-operation, and that great benefits must follow the development of cooperative principles. Here the chairman brought the members to order, for he thought they were getting off the track. He informed Mr. Jennings that, pending Parliament meeting, the Council had not yet drawn out its' list of grants and subsidies required. .._.--

Mr. Jennings replied: "It -fcTliarilly "jiefessary for me to urge upon an old campaigner like you, Mr. Foreman, the necessity for getting in early." He advised the Council to lose no time in making its wants known.