The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATES The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1922. PUBLIC WORKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 246, 17 October 1922, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATES The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1922. PUBLIC WORKS.

For the ce««e that lacks nstintanee, For the tereng that needs resistance, for the future in the Histance, AM •*• food that ice am do.

The forecast of the Public Works Statement that we publish to-day mdi

cates that the Statement will not be sensational, but that it will have important features. We may first note the lateness at which the Statement appears. The date of last year's reached the point of absurdity; it was brought down in January though the period that it covered ended in March. This time it

in brought down in the middle of October, when six and a half months' of the year have nassed. T* there any reason why a statement of policy that ranks in importance second only to the Budget, should not bo submitted within a month of Parliament assemltiing! The

Minister proposes 10 spend four millions this year, which mm H a million und a-half less than the expenditure laH year, but is greater than the total in any other year. In the year before the war the expenditure \mis two ami a-half millions. Our fore<'H«i -ays that there is to Iw heavy expenditure on hydro»'e.tri.al work-. , .... t ,1,.- |m!i.-y of ,-,, i. ccntriition on railuay i-iin-trin-1 imi i- to he. continue.l. :inrl that more intention is to he given to roads :is railway feeders, as aiiaiiir-i branch lino-. Concent ration of rlFori on Iho most important works has lomj.' lieeii ;i prc;it national need, hut on paper Mr. ('oaten may not ceeni to haw done much to redeem his promise of reform. The latest returns show men at work on railway construction in twenty-one different

place.*. Twelve months before, ihv mini

her of places \va~ twenty-two, and twelve months before that it »as twenty-three. There if. this to be said fnr the Minister, liowv'vor. that lie inherited a virion* system, and that hr had In carry on a number nf o\i>t hntv* in certain points. Tlis task sliuuld soon In- easier. The finishin- touches" arc being put to the Otira tunnel, a n<l traffic iraiiis elnxilrl be running through in » lew months. The completion uf tin- connection with Whangarei in sight. Willi these works out ot t lie way Ihe Department "ill lio able to i-oncrntratp nu the Kast ("oast line. It "ill be noticed that our Wellington corro*pondi'iii ».;i\>- (here

in umong member*. It's, inliMol in the Stateinnlit than has |>revionsh iieen <lisplnveil. Mo attributes tiiN tn realisation thnt roads arc jioiiig in tnl<v> Ihe

place of branch line* to a lurre extent. We. ehould say tliaf tho character of the Minister had also something to do with it. The outlook for branch lines, however, is undoubtedly (■hanging. Therv is expert opinion that favours roads rather than railways ac feeders for main lines, and probably every branch line in the country ie feeling tho pinch of competition by motor transport. As our roads are improved that competition will heroine more severe, and it is not at all impossible that some branch lines will eventually fall into complete disuse and be pulled up. It is therefore time that the Department adopted a definite policy on the subject, and one may expect, if political considerations do not prvvail, a decision against branch lines save in

exceptional cases. The Minister's methods of asscswinc: the needs of each district, and leaving the distribution to be settled between the local bodies and the district engineer, are a distinct improvement on the old system. He is applying to the question of grants to local bodies the old saying that Heaven helps those who help themselves. Those bodies who rate themselves rigorously for roads and bridges will be helped liberally by the Government. Those that decline to l>ear much of a burden, but go to the State for assistance, will not fret much. The new-

policy is sound. There has been far too much local shirking of responsibility. Many a tinu; a local body ha-s pone to the Government for help when it should first have helped itself by raising its ratee. We welcome these changes not only because they art more business-like, but because they will tend to reduce that political pressure at Wellinprton •which has been the curse of the public works system. It cannot be too often emphasised that wise spending of public money ie necessary to-day more than ever. Four millions is a great sum to spend in a y«ar, and with a public debt of more than £200,000,000 we cannot afford to -waste a penny.