PUBLIC SPENDING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 September 1938, Page 3

PUBLIC SPENDING

ITEMS ON SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES OVER £400,000 PROVIDED. GRANTS COVER WIDE FIELD. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. A total vote of £401,036. is provided for in the Supplementary Estimates which were introduced by GovernorGeneral’s Message in the House of Representatives yesterday. Of this sum £213,324 is voted to the Consolidated Fund Ordinary Revenue Account, £160,000 to the Public Works Fund, and the balance to separate accounts and accounts outside the public account. Items of general and local interest in the estimates are as follows:—

Internal Affairs Department.—£664B. The item includes a vote of £2020 as a contribution toward the cost of acquiring additional land for the soldiers’ plot at Karori Cemetery. To cover the expense of the Royal Commission on Lands at Orakei, Auckland, there is a vote of £3OO. A sum of £75 is voted for rail fares in the Dominion of the New Zealand delegation to the British Commonwealth of Nations’ Conference, Sydney. For the purchase of drugs beneficial in effecting a reduction in the prevalence of hydatid disease in dogs there is a vote of £6OOO. Part of this sum is recoverable, as the owners of dogs are required to pay a prescribed fee in respect of the drug supplied. The recoveries from this source are estimated at £5OOO this financial year. Grants to settlers on account of flood damage in the Esk Valley are expected to absorb £2OOO. Expenses of the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Superannuation are represented by a vote of £4OO.

Marine Department.—£l7l7. An additional £lOO is voted for investigation and research concerning the protection of toheroas. Native Department.— £3632* The appointment of additional officers as a result of the expansion of activities in the direction of native land development, native housing and promotion of native employment is responsible for an item of £2107.

Nava! Service.—An additional £20,000 is voted for the purchase of land at Devonport for the site of Royal Naval Barracks, but this sum is offset by amount of £22,000 provided for in the main estimates but not required. Air Department.—Grants toward the funds of the four territorial squadrons are estimated at £3OO. An additional £l5OO is voted for the transport of territorials attending parades and for a refresher course for the Dunedin Squadron. A sum of £BO is voted to cover the expenses of Air Marshal Sir Edward Ellington, Inspector-General of the Royal Air Force, and two staff officers while on a short visit to the Dominion as guests of the Government.

Maintenance of Public Works and Services.—£lso credit. Amounts provided in the main estimates and not required total £3170. Department of Agriculture.—£l6,2l3. The main item is a vote of £lO,OOO for the carriage of lime by rail for bona fide farmers, this amount being additional to the sum of £120,000 provided in the main estimates. Department of Industries and Commerce.—£396o. There is a vote of £l5B to cover the cost of reports on experiments carried out at the Duffield Iron Corporation Works, Banbury, on the production of steel from Taranaki ironsands and the cost of a further report on the Renn Krupp process for the production of iron sponge.

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. —£7115. The vote includes grants totalling £2OOO to the Cawthron Institute, Massey College and Lincoln College; and a payment of £6OO for the standardisation of local body by-laws by the Standards Institute.

Education Department.—£79,7ss. The vote includes a grant of £47,300 to education boards for teachers’ salaries and house allowances. There is also an amount of £43,058 for the maintenance of public schools and training colleges. Credits in aid total £23,334. Railway Construction.—£2s,ooo is provided for the construction of the Taneatua-Opotiki railway. Public Buildings.—£loo,ooo. Individual votes are as'follows: Lincoln College, £35.000; Massey College, £17,000; additional premises at Miramar film studios, £1400;; new Native Department buildings, Sydney Street, Wellington, £2000; glasshouses for Plant Diseases Division, Auckland, £1050; new police stations, £38,460. Lighthouses and Harbour Works. — An additional £5OOO is provided for radio direction-finding beacons and the electrification of lights. Development of Tourist Resorts. — £5OOO, to be spent mainly on general improvements at the Hermitage, Mount Cook, and on the provision of thermal baths at Taupo.

Settlement Roads.—The total additional sum voted is £25,000. •Dairy Industry Account.—A vote of £7OO includes £5OO as expenses for the Guaranteed Prices Advisory Committee which recently reported to the Government.

Broadcasting Account.—£6s93. There is only one vote for the National Broadcasting Service, being a contribution of £B6B to the Radio Research Committee. Miscellaneous votes for the Commercial Broadcasting Service total £5725, including £3875 for capital expenditure. Unauthorised Expenditure.—A grant of £22,509 is made to Union Airways Limited to meet portion of the losses sustained by the company since its inception.