The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo and The Sun. FRIDAY, MAY 15, 1936. PUBLIC WORKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 114, 15 May 1936, Page 6

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

FRIDAY, MAY 15, 1936. PUBLIC WORKS.

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.

Cabinet lias given its approval to a three years' programme of public works, estimated to cost £17,500,000, and the Minister of Public Works, responsible for giving effect to the policy, to-day announces the conditions under which the work is to be done. They are liberal conditions, and they will prove too liberal unless, the improvement which has been made upon the old conditions is accompanied by a more than proportional increase in the amount of work done. That this will be achieved we have the assurance of Mr. Semple, whose judgment in this matter is entitled to respect. He rightly holds the view that the fundamental condition of efficient work must be a healthy mental attitude of the workers, and this he has sought to bring about, firstly, by negotiating an agreement with the workers' representatives as co the basic wage, hours of work and living and recreation facilities, and secondly by carrying on the system of co-operative contracts. In addition, lie proposes to employ only fit and qualified men. "Service will be demanded, and there will be no room for the man who cannot do the job and would be a burden to his mates."

The general tone of Mr. Semple's announcement, will do a great deal to assure the public that under his administration the Public Works Department will be a much more efficient organisation than it has been in the past, and that the community will be given value for its money. This is always an avowed object of a Public Works policy, but its achievement in the future is doubly important because some of the projects upon which the Government has decided are of exceedingly doubtful economic worth, and it is therefore essential that their capital cost should be as low as possible.

The rate of tlie proposed expenditure — about six millions a year —will be considerably greater than the average for the last four years, but less than that of 1930-31, when public works cost £8,358,529. A considerable part of that sum was loan money. Mr. Semple did not indicate the source from which the Government will derive the £17,500,000 which is to be spent in three years, but relief will be felt that the contemplated total is no greater. A month ago the Minister spoke of "almost doubling" the number of Public Woi'ks employees, which would have involved an insupportable expenditure. The number on the pay-roll now is 16,000, and this Mr. Semple expects will be "considerably increased." The Minister's difficulty, assuming that the present programme of work is carried out efficiently, will be to continue to find economical projects upon which to employ such a large body of men. It may be that the Government hopes that the conditions of private employment will in future be such that Public Works men will prefer it, but of that there is little prospect. Rather is there a danger that the Public Works employment will be preferred— by at least 16,000 of the fittest manual workers in the Dominion—to any other, even if the wages offered outside the Department were higher. This effect of the new policy is likely to be feared by the farmers, who already are reporting difficulty in securing labour. The wages of farm labour, it is understood, are to be fixed by legislation to be introduced shortly. With £4 a week as the Public Works' standard, the wage offered by the farmer will have to be substantially increased if he is to compete successfully in the market.