RUST AND RUIN

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20497, 13 May 1938, Page 9

RUST AND RUIN

UNCOMPLETED WORKS MR SEMPLE’S STRICTURES (Special Reporter) MORRINSVILLE, Friday Half-finished public works by the previous Government which the new Government had to take over, came in for some trenchant criticism by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, during his address at Morrinsville last evening. He gave numerous instances of material wasted and sold, material which had been bought with borrowed money on which the taxpayer was still paving interest.. “The last Government spent £8,000,000 in railways, which they did not finish,” said the speaker. "The part of the line that they completed at Dargaville, in the former Minister of Finance's own district, cost £450,000. It would have cost only £60,000 more to finish the whole job, but they stopped it and it was of no use to anyone. “They also spent £120,000 on the famous balloon loop which goes to nowhere and then comes back again.” (Laughter). The last Government had wondered whether they should have actually started tlie works, and they set up a board to advise them on tlie matter, continued Mr Semple. On the advice of the then board they stopped work on the lines and sold up everything. The rails, sleepers and workmen’s hutments were all disposed of. The speaker drew a graphic picture of the instance at Waikokopu where, owing to closing of the railway work, men and their families were left for as long as two years on the site of the job. In another case the tools were thrown into the Buller River and could be seen to-day standing In the gravel. “Through those methods the last Government committed such acts of extravagance as this country had never previously seen,” said Mr Semple. They paid 3} per cent, on £8,000,000 and we are still paying It, and all they gave us was a mass of rust and ruin.”

Continuing, the speaker described the result of the last Government’s work on the Mohaka Viaduct as another example of wreck and ruin. The Labour Government had tackled these jobs and carried them through. “Our predecessors turned the Public Works into relief camps,” said Mr Semple. “They also chased practically all the good workmen out of the country. Some of the best tunnellers in the world were working In this Dominion, but they caught the first boat and left for Australia. As a result to-day we experience great difficulty in carrying out the necessary works.

“Under the last Government the methods of the Public Works Department were the most stupid, comic opera procedures I have ever seen. And all this was done by the man who recently told you that you needed prudent finance.”