NOT SETTLED—DEFERRED

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 83, 4 October 1930, Page 8

NOT SETTLED—DEFERRED

As Mr. Taverner became Minister of Public Works only a little while before the session he can be excused for presenting a Statement which lacks a policy. It is.but fair that he should have time to examine some of the problems which it will be his duty to solve. ■ In his Statement he merely states these problems and supplies general answers which are fairly satisfactory as far as they go. The two facts to which he attached most importance are: (1) The inquiry by a Select Committee respecting railways under construction; (2) the increase of unemployment. With a railway-construction -inquiry in progress the Minister's railway-build-ing plans for the balance of "he year must, of course, be subject to revision. The Minister emphasises the necessity for "a complete evaluation of the lines under construction in regard, inter alia, to community value for increased settlement, increased production, and those services to the public which are not easy to assess in terms of money." He makes ho mention of financial returns in his list of the factors for consideration in this evaluation. Has this omission any significance? It certainly suggests that the Government may be preparing to justify, on general community ■ service grounds, railways which cannot be held justifiable by balance-sheet figures. We hope that this is not so, for while it must be admitted that there are services of which the value is not definitely assessable in money, the money return is the best index to value. If people are not ready or able to pay for a service its value to them or to the community must be discounted.

The second consideration mentioned by the Minister admittedly cannot be overlooked. If the discontinuance of railway construction necessitates expenditure on relief works which are even less productive the State has made no gain. But we cannot agree that in order to employ labour it is necessary to construct railways which will be a continual burden on the community. That must involve loading the community with more deadweight debt, and every pound added to deadweight debt retards the natural recovery of the country. The Minister states: I am strongly of opinion that more reproductive work can be found for the purpose of relieving unemployment than the building of, roads, which work is, &s honourable members will recognise, not a permanent solution of the problem. The Minister further emphasises the importance of "finding other' avenues of employment which may be imposed as jthe resulj of cnrtail-

ments found necessary in the railway construction programme." This is partly the task of the Minister of Public Works, and it is satisfactory to know that he realises its \irgency. But it .is also the task of the whole Government. It is not to be solved only by putting men on Government work, but by so managing the affairs of the Stale that private enterprise in industry will be quickened. The State cannot maintain indefinitely the present army of Public Works employees, and a constructive policy should aim at facilitating the absorption of the labour in private industry.