The Press. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1909. THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13611, 21 December 1909, Page 6

The Press. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1909. THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

The Hon. R. McKenzie delivered his finst Statement «s Minister for Public Works last night and, as might have been expected, it proved a somewhat stodgy and uninspired deliverance. We look in vain for nny broad and statesmanlike declaration of policy, but instead Tve are presented with a mass of details, most of which might with advantage have been given in departmental reports. The outstanding feature is that the Public Works expend ituro during the year has been the largest on record, and that for the most part the money lihs been frittered away on a number of small works and additions to railways, all over the country, the increase in the earning power of the country being not at oil commensurate with the.increase in the expenditure. It is true that Ministers have made a stand with regard to the Laurence-Roxburgh railway. The section to Big Hill, it is stated, will bo completed, but the Government are unable to see their way to carrying it further unless an adequate guarantee is forthcoming that reasonable interest on the capital invested will be returned. It is a pity the Government had not the courage- to adopt a similar course with regard to some of the other minor railways mentioned in the Statement, concentrating their efforts and expenditure meanwhile on the rapid completion of works which can be relied upon to prove speedily reproductive. The total expenditure on all works and services borne upon the Public Works Estimates last year amounted to no less than £2,145,324. Excluding special accounts having their own ways and means, and taking into consideration only tho actual charges against the Public Works Fund, the total arncunts to £2,169,278, which is the largest expenditure on such works for many years. Charges and expenses in connection with financing amounted to ££280, thus bringing up the total disbursements to £2,174,558, leaving a credit balance at the end of the year of £383,709 for the current year. It is proposed to provide additional funds as under:—-Balance of 1908 loan, £56,000; new loan of 1909, £2,250,000. It-eluding tiie balance brought forward, fche total amount available will be £2,683,709. The expenditure is estimated to reach £2,190,624, thus leaving a balance of £493,085. Groping out way wearily through the arid desert of detailed facts and figures, in search of something ap--preaching a policy, we find that Mr McKenzie's chief idea of retrenchment is to shift some of the expenditure on to the shoulders of the local bodies. The construction of new roads to open up back blocks, he admits, may be properly regarded as devolving upon the general Government, but he thinks that the maintenance of roads and bridges, except in special cases, ie a -work that should devolve upon the local authority of the district. We are not prepared to deny the soundness of this view, but we\do wish that Government, when shifting part of the burden they have hitherto borne would remember, when they transfer it to the broad shoulders of the local ratepayers, that the expenditure is still being met by the people. The moral is that they should endeavour to retrench their own expenditure, and not take advantage of the fact that they have been able to saddle the local authority with part of the expenditure merely as an excuse for jurther expenditure in other directions, thus keeping the general taxation continually screwed up to the highest point.