THE ESTIMATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 184, 5 August 1936, Page 11

THE ESTIMATES.

WIDE FIELD COVERED

GRANTS BIG AND SMALL

AIR CRASHES RECALLED

(By Tflegrapli.— Parliamentary Reporter.

WELLINGTON, this day.

A wide variety of items are covered in the Estimates of Government Departmental expenditure for the year ending March 31 next, which were .tabled in the House of Representatives, to-night.

For the renovation and maintenance of courthouses, the sum of £9,500 is provided, while for gaols the sum of £lisoo is allotted. For mental hospital maintenance the sum of £19,000, including £5000 at Auckland, is provided.

An increase of nearly £2000 is shown in the Health Department's vote for the assistance of branches of the Plunket Society ( £22,720).

The tragic death of Mr. W. M. O'Hara, the New Zealand airman who was killed in a crash in Australia, is recalled by a grant cf £150 as a contribution toward the cost of bringing his remains to New Zealand, and other charges.

A donation of £500 is made to the McGregor National Fund for the dependants of the late Squadron-Leader M. C. McGregor, who was killed in a crash at Wellington.

An interesting grant recalling an early attempt to fly the Tasman is that of £97 8/ to Mrs. L. Hood, whose husband was lost with a companion, when they attempted to be the first to cross from Australia to New Zealand by air.

National Art Gallery,

To the board of trustees of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum for the maintenance of the new institution at Wellington, a grant of £7000 is made. A sum of £24,141, placed on the Estimates of the Tourist Department, as compared with £20,092 last year, makes allowance for the rerooling of the Chateau Tongariro as well as repairs to the building and huts. The temporary disappearance of Lincoln Ellsworth in the Antarctic is recalled by a grant of £2000 as the Dominion's share of sending the ship Discovery to the relief of the explorers. To mark New Zealand's participation in the South African Exhibition at Johannesburg there is a vote of £4000.

The balance of the cost of taking "the census and printing the results is covered by the sum of £28,000. Last year £.3728 was expended in preliminary work in connection with the taking of the census. A reminder of the approaching survey of the New Zealand coast is given in a sum of £800 placed on the estimates of the Marine Department to provide office accommodation ashore for officials carrying out the survey. To assist in meeting the cost of the fire bridages' annual conference and demonstration there is a sum of £1500, half of which is to provide railway passes for firemen attending the conference. The fact that the Government recognises the serious menace of deer in New Zealand is shown by the fact that the vote under this heading is £10.000, as against £0800 expended last year. War Graves and Memorials. The vote for the care of war graves and memorials is increased from £2300 to £3000. Working expenses of the P. and T. Department are put down at £3,085,752, an increase of over £300,000 as compared with the vote last year. Totalling £1,209,432, railway renewals include the following items:—Wagons, £305,450; carriages and vans, £118,830; locomotives, £100,935; and rail cars, £32,500. A contribution of £147.000 is made from the Lands and Survey Department to defray portion of the cost of labour engaged on small farms development work. The growing realisation of the importance of soil surveys is shown by an increase in the vote for this work from £3090 to £7826. The large increase in the Native Department estimate (£281.473) is accounted for by a grant of £200,000 to aid Maori unemployment. The total of £238,000 allocated for the Labour Department includes £169,175 for the employment subdivision. The estimates of this Department include £2150 as the expenses of the New Zealand delegation to the conference of the International Labour Organisation at Geneva.

An item in the Mines Department estimates is one of £20,000 for locating new reefs and developing mining propositions.