USELESS SPENDING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 239, 8 October 1932, Page 13

USELESS SPENDING.

A move to call a conference of members of Parliament and other interested bodies to form a drive on the Waitakere ridges for scenic purposes is another instapce of the mania for spending the hard-hit taxpayers' money on unproductive luxuries, with the inevitable plea, relief of unemployment. In these strenuous times the taxpayers require some consideration, and the above proposal is not going to help them, but only further destroy their spending powers, which in turn creates more unemployment. As work for the unemployed is essential, utilise it for useful purposes, not for scenic drives only. Leave these luxury fads for times of plenty. For" a present and future asset I would suggest that the Tamaki Drive be continued across tlie Tamaki Heads to the Tamaki Sandspit, thence bridged across the river, thereby connecting u> Buckland's Beach, Pakurangi, Howick, Whitford, Beachlands, Muritai, Clevedon, Kawakawa, Orewa, New Brighton and Miranda with their surrounding acres of farming lands, sea beaches and scenery thrown in. The majority of these districts are already connected by the reading policy of the Public Works Department. The shelving of other wasteful schemes would assist by diverting the money required for them to this and other useful purposes. I will quote one instance, namely, the £45,000 to be spent on the rocky wastes at the Western Springs, with a probable loan of another large sum for roading the same, for no other stated purpose than that it may prove useful for municipal golf links or something else. LOOKING EAST.