Greater share of work sought by contractors

Press, 5 August 1976, Page 3

Greater share of work sought by contractors

The growth of work by private contractors had been limited in the last four years, the president of the Contractors’ Federation (Mr W. D. Finnie) told the annual conference in Christchurch yesterday. The value of work by contractors in that period rose from S42M to SS7M, Mr Finnie said. The value of the work by the Ministry of Works increased from S62M to SI32M. He said the obvious disproportion in the figures would be the subject of a deputation to the Government.

Mr Finnie was critical of some machinery dealers and

finance houses who had sold second-hand equipment to newcomers in the industry:

This was often on low deposits over extended terms and to people with little business experience in competition with established contractors. In most cases the ventures struggled for survival, and frequently failed. The National Roads Board budget also came under criticism from Mr Finnie. In the last nine years the vote for the board had decreased 36 per cent in real terms, he said. In the other five main vote areas there was an average increase in ex-

penditure of more than 94 per cent, in real terms, said Mr Finnie. No-one had calculated the cost to the consumer arising from the country’s overregulated society, Mr Finnie said. For many years New Zealand had been hampered by many forms of restrictions, regulations, and trade protection, all adding to the cost of consumer goods and services.

Mr Finnie cited the 40 mile-road transport limit, which was to “prop up an ailing railway system,” and import control to foster the manufacture of bulldozer blades “at twice the cost and half the quality.”