CITY DRAINAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 261, 4 November 1933, Page 8

CITY DRAINAGE.

AN URGENT PUBLIC WORK. (To the Editor.) It lias been suggested by the Mayor that delegates to the proposed conference on the question of unemployment should bring forward concrete proposals for discussion. The Auckland Harbour Board has brought forward a definite proposal, and I refer to the tireater Auckland drainage sehemc, that deserves the most serious consideration by the delegates of local bodies and other public men who will be assembled at that conference to abolish unemployment. Here is a proposition that is necessary and urgent, that is capable of giving employment to the whole of our unemployed, directly or indirectly, and being of almost a national character, is unique from the point of view of being sponsored by the Unemployment Board. The case for the immediate prosecution of this work is unanswerable; our harbours are being polluted, the scheme has been adopted and approved, it must be done sooner or later, and, as the "Star" puts it, "Why not now?" Never will money be cheaper or labour more plentiful. Our Prime Minister has stated that all over the world national works are being undertaken to alleviate unemployment, so why not tackle Auckland's drainage problem? In supporting my motion on the Harbour Board, Mr. Bloodworth said that the Unemployment Board could even be reasonably expected to pay the interest on the loan necessary for a time so that there would be no extra taxation on the local bodies concerned. The Auckland Harbour Board is quite serious in requiring that the pollution of our harbours must cease, immediate action is asked for, public opinion is behind them, and it behoves those responsible to consider the matter without delay. STEPHEN VELLA.