The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1932. PUBLIC WORKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 303, 22 December 1932, Page 6

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

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1932. PUBLIC WORKS.

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

A statement that has been awaited with interest not untinged with anxiety has been made by Mr. Coates on the subject of Public Works policy and activities. Mr. Coates repeats the statement that there has been considerable retrenchment, but that more is to come. A total reduction of staff by 50 per cent is in sight, and since 1930-31 a reduction of £200,000 has been made in administrative costs. Mr. Coates refers at length to the many activities of the Department that do not come so prominently under the public's eye as its expenditure of loan money —such as inspections of various kinds. This, however, again raises the question whether all these duties are necessary. It has been shown that electrical inspections are duplicated, and apparently the Department is determined to obtain the powers of control that are proposed for it in the Building Construction Bill., Mr. Coates, it is interesting to note, says if there was amalgamation of municipal bodies, more responsibility could be placed upon the local authority, which is another argument for an immediate overhaul of our local body system.

Mr. Coates also announces that more use will be made of the contract system in future constructipn. As he points out, the Department's experience Avith large contracts has not been altogether happy. On the other hand, wider use of this system should enable the Department to bring estimates and actual costs closer together. Discrepancies between these were pointed out by the National Expenditure Commission. Most important of all, there is no mention in this statement of any intention, to carry out the Commission's main recommendation, the establishment of an independent Board of Works, which would examine both projects and estimates. Until, this is done there will be no adequate protection against the intrusion of political considerations, which have been the curse of public works ever since Vogel astonished the country with his first programme.