PUBLIC WORKS POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 January 1921, Page 7

PUBLIC WORKS POLICY.

AUCKLAND’S ACTIVITY. TO COMBAT ALLEGED SOUTHERN COMBINATION. In reporting to the council of the Auckland Railways and Development League on hia recent visit to the southern portion' of the North Island, the chairman (Mr. P E. Cheat) said he found there a strong feeding against Auckland, on the ground that this province had been very much better treated in regard to public works than other parts of the Dominion. It had to be remembered, however that in the last twenty years holdings of land in Auckland had increased by nearly 9000, or about 440 each year, averaging about 247 acres, whereas in Wellington the increase was only about 857, or an average of about 42 each year. Where settlement was so close and so much on the increase the districts should be assited by roads and railways and bridges. A combination! of interests in the South Island and the southern portion of the North Island was, he said, in evidence against Auckland, and he had stated that if this were so, self-deter-mination was the only answer Auckland could give. He was satisfied there must be unity in all directions, especially among the farming interests in Auckland, Hawke's Bay and Taranaki, and the northern portion of the Wellington province l , to combat any effort that might be made to upset the policy of the present Minister of Public Works, whose policy was one with that advocated for many years by the league. He advocated the appointment of a strong committee, elected by the local bodies of the districts he had named, to which all questions concerning commercial, industrial or pastoral interests, and whether involving questions of hydro-electricity, railways, or roads, could, be referred.