URGENT WORKS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20909, 14 September 1939, Page 6

URGENT WORKS

SECURITY OF DOMINION (By Telegraph.—special to Times) WELLINGTON, Wednesday The public works onganisation was part of the national mobilisation, said the acting-Prime .Minister, the Hon. P. Fraser, when the Public Works Estimates were being considered in the House of Representatives tonight. The Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. A. Hamilton, said the urgent works of today were not the completion of railways and highways, but defence, and the successful prosecution of the war. “If the Ngahauranga Gorge and the Plimmerton-Paekaka-rlki coastal road take a little longer to construct it does not matter, for we are engaged in a life and death struggle,” said Mr Hamilton. “Military operations will require a lot of money, and if might be wise for the Government to consider seriously the diversion of the money provided for in these estimates to the more urgent needs existing today.” Another urgent work, Mr Hamilton continued, was the production of foodstuffs and supplies. The estimates might well be reviewed in the light ol' defence and production. Order of Preference The acting-Prime Minister, the Hon. P. Fraser, who returned to the chamber just before Mr Hamilton resumed his seat, said the Public Works Estimates, and for that matter the main Estimates and the Supplementary Estimates, would have to be considered in the light of developments and the money so voted would be devoted to the purposes for which it was first required. The Public Works Estimates would be partly used to discharge the cost of works that had been undertaken and to meet other liabilities and commitments, Mr Fraser continued. That did not prevent the switching over of the balance for expenditure in connection with defence and production. Indeed, production might prove as important as defence in the winning of the war. The voting of the money did not hind the Government to use it for the specific purpose for which it was voted.