PUBLIC WORKS SYSTEM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 64, 17 March 1930, Page 19

PUBLIC WORKS SYSTEM.

CO-OPERATIVE CONTRACTS. MR. RANSOM'S CLAIM DISPUTED. I (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) GISBORNE, Saturday. The former Minister of Public Works, Mr. K. S. Williams, M.P., has replied to the reported statement by the present Minister, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, that if Public Works men ''leaned on their shovels" it must have been under another Government, and that when he tqok office he had immediately asked the Department to see that after men had been given an opportunity to learn thenwork and the use of their tools, they [ should be placed on co-operative con- ; tracts. Mr. Williams said the policy of the Coates Government from the inception of the relief works had been to place J men on day wages in order to give them j'an opportunity to gain experience, and i later to place them on co-operative contracts. Mr. Ransom, therefore, could hardly claim credit for the inauguration of this, system, which.:was evolved at the very beginning of the relief works, and was carried out during the whole of his (Mr. Williams') term as Minister iof Public Works. As a rule, when new ( men asked for permission for- an exten- | sion of time on wages, in order to become more accustomed to the work, the request was granted. With reference to the system of employment, Mr. Williams said the policy was to keep regular and relief workers separate as much as possible and regular employment was found for the permanent men by drafting them to new works on the completion of old jobs.