The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1932. PLANNING AHEAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 285, 1 December 1932, Page 6

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

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1932. PLANNING AHEAD.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The schedule of works thai the City Council is considering this afternoon is a praiseworthy attempt to ease unemployment in some measure by planning ahead, and if the Government and all local bodies were to j approach the problem from the same angle the country might benefit considerably. The idea is that four categories of work —road extension, water reservoirs, drainage and new municipal offices—shall be put in hand and assistance shall be given by the Unemployment Board. Ordinary wages will be paid. The total cost would be £160,000, and behind this there is a much larger set of proposals drawn up by the City Engineer for capital works and improvements running into more than a million. It is from this comprehensive programme that the present schedule has been selected. It is argued, apparently, that the works in the immediate list are more or less urgent, and that it would serve both the city's interests and that of the unemployed if they were put in hand soon. The proposed reservoir additions will no doubt be necessary wherever the water is obtained. The extension of Upper Queen Street, to provide a better outlet to the west, has been talked of for years, but nothing has been done. The spending of £40,000 on the prevention, of storm-water flooding in the lower levels of the city may not be warranted, but there is always a danger of damage being done. That the Council's staff need more accommodation is conceded, and sooner or later a new municipal block must bo built. It should be confined to the Council's needs. The devising of work for the unemployed is admittedly very difficult, but there is wisdom in deciding what public works are necessary now or will be in the next few years, and arranging a programme of construction that will absorb a considerable number of unemployed. The Government, it must be remembered, has most distinctly laid upon local bodies, a considerable share of this responsibility. If local bodies frame plans for what arc in part relief works, they should bo able to rely on the Government for assistance with finance.