FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1919. PUBLIC WORKS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 253, 24 October 1919, Page 4

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1919. PUBLIC WORKS.

There are several satisfactory details in the Public Works Statement, but the main feature of it is that it continues the bad old policy of dissipation of energy. The war has not taught Sir William Fraser the value of concentration; perhaps it is too much to expect of human nature that a policy so old and strongly entrenched should be abandoned on the eve of a general election. jThe allocation of money for railways exhibits all the old failings. Instead of concentrating on a few main lines and j bringing them to the paying point as soon as possible, the Department [spreads money over some thirty sections of railway. In 1917-18 the Public Works Department was able to hand over to the Railway Department twenty-two miles of completed line. In IMS-19 it did not hand | over one mile. That is to say, the combined operations of the army of public works employees, working on thirty jobs, added twenty-two miles to the Dominion's railways in two years. This one fact condemns the whole system of piecemeal construction. No business firm could conduct its affairs in this way and remain solvent. Seeing howslow the Department has been, and howfar estimates have exceeded actual expenditure, the public is justified in idoubting the sincerity of the Statement. A great deal of the money voted last year was not spent. The total set apart for railway construction was £455,000, but less than £300,000 was spent. We are now more than half-way through the current year, and the number of men in the Department's employment is still 1,500 short of the pre-war mark, so what a farce it is to present appropriations like these to-day with any serious suggestion that the money will be expended. A total of £000,000 is allocated to railway construction this year, and the same amount to hydro-electric development. A million is placed on the estimates for roads and bridges alone. While we do not under-value the importance of cither the Government's hydro-electric schemes, or of roads and bridges, these allocations strike us as. disproportionate. There should be a larger vote for and a greater concentration on railways, quick succession of which is urgently needed both to open up country and to bring to the point of profit a large amount of capital already sunk in building. With the North Auckland, East Coast, Stratford-Ongarue and Midland lines still uncompleted, tho total vote for railway construction should exceed that for hydro-electrical development. With the railway allocations that Sir William Fraser has made within the defective limits of his policy we have not so mucli quarrel. As it deserves to do, the North Island gets the bulk of the vote for construction. There are very substantial increases in the votes for the lines north of Auckland I and for the East Coast line. For instance the line beyond Waihi gets I £25,000 against £15,000 last year, and (the two Tauranga sections a total of j £80,000 against £55,000. We hope a I great effort will be made to make the whole East Coast system something less of a patch-work. We observe, however, that there, is no vote for extension beyond the terminus north of Gisborne. but that large sums are appropriated for the Gisborne-Napier system. Surely it would be better to push tho line right through between Waihi and Gisborne before giving so much attention to the j Gisborne-Napier connection. Sir Willliam Fraser is still wedded to branch [lines. The Waipu branch gets £10,000, the Waiuku £20,000, and £5,000 is allotted to the proposed Paeroa-Pokcno line. The Waiuku branch is a typical example of New Zealand railway construction. The work has been going on for some years, yet less than ten miles have been completed in ea3y country. The vote for the Paeroa-Pokeno line is interesting in that it marks the beginning of a work that will considerably shorten the journey between Auckland and the Goldfields and the East Coast. It is an important line, but -we cannot conscientiously feel enthusiastic about it while so much remains to be done to main lines. Authority is being sought by the Government to borrow nearly seven millions for hydro-electric development, but the immediate public works expenditure is £000,000, most of which is to go to two of the three great North Island schemes, Arapuni and Mangahao. The Government is quite right in pushing on with this development; though, as >ye have said, it has not shown a proper sense of proportion in allotting the same s*Um to this as to railways. There is, however, a refreshing concentration about the hydro-electrical policy of the Government. It does not propose to dot

the country with stations and to taki years and years to complete most o! them, but, in contrast with its railway policy, is concentrating its energies or a few great enterprises. Shortage oi labour is the chief bar to the speedy realisation of the hopes placed in these hydro-electric schemes, as it is to quick railway construction. Unless the Government augments the supply by encouriging immigration, the shortage is likely to last a long time. It is, therefore, most necessary that tho Government should at once formulate a comprelensive immigration policy, designed to ittract both settlers and men who will labour on public works with an ultimate jroßpect of going on the land if they lesire to do so.