PUBLIC WORKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 July 1940, Page 5

PUBLIC WORKS

MINISTER DEFENDS POLICY TEN MILLIONS TO BE SPENT BY DEPARTMENT. PARTICULARS OF RAILWAYS COMPLETION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Figures showing that the amount to be spent this year on public works under his control was £10,520,000, were quoted in the House of Representatives yesterday by the Minister of Public Works, Mr Semple. The remaining sum of £10,069,000 in the provision for the Public Works Department, Mr Semple said, was for expenditure on works controlled by other Ministers. The Minister said he was compelled to speak in defence of the department against criticism that it was spending too much. It was said last year that the department had spent £24,000,000, but the expenditure under his control was only half that sum. Similar criticism was made again this year. The votes controlled by him showed a reduction of £2,114,200 on last year’s estimates, the total of £10,520,000 being made up as follows: Borrowed money £7,020,000, revenue £2,850,000, taxation £650,000. Explaining the increase of £910,000 to £2,750,000 for electric supply, Mr Semple said the demand for electricity was abnormal, having almost doubled in the last three years and a half. Supplies for -the future had to be developed, or there would be a shortage of electricity. The principal amounts controlled by other Ministers were quoted by Mr Semple as follows: —Minister of Railways, £2,750,000; Minister of Education, £700,000;, Postmaster-General, £325,000; Minister of Lands, £550,000; Native Minister, £1,000,000; Minister of Housing, £4,000,000. “It would be a crime to stop the four railway lines now being constructed,” said the Minister, replying to suggestions that expenditure on new lines should be stopped. The lines had not been started by, the Labour Government. Since the works were re-open-ed. the expenditure had been £5,832,290, and the estimated cost to finish them ■ was £1.619,140. It was estimated that the Dargaville, Gisborne, and Westport-Inangahua lines would be finished in 1941, and the South Island Main Trunk in 1942. Besides being ahead of the time estimates the department was working under the estimated costs, the balances so far being:—Dargaville line, £16,000; Gisborne line, £10.000: South Island Main Trunk. £16.000; Westport-Inangahua line, £143,000. The vote for irrigation, water supply and drainage, was increased by £140,000 to £425,000, said the Minister. The irrigation works in Canterbury were a very reproductive undertaking, and it would not be wise to interfere with them. Dealing with highways. Mr Semple said flood damage had cost between £750.000 and £1.000,000 in five years, and already this year £57.000 had been spent on repairing damage to highways and secondary roads. Without the mechanised units the department possessed, the repairs would cost five times as much. “Every day I have requests from members on both sides of the House for public works in their districts, yet some members come into the House and give me the works,” Mr Semple said. He challenged members to cite one road, which should not have been built in the past five years. The war was one for engineers, and every road would be of immense value if the Dominion were invaded. It was folly to say that money spent on highways was wasted.