NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 223, 21 June 1928, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

It is very puzzling to understand why such heat should be generated at meetings of the City and Suburban Highways Board when members quite properly seek information as to the cost of road paving work carried out by the Board. Mr. Hoggard was quite in order yesterday when he sought definite particulars of costs in relation to estimates. He was equally right in commenting on the incomplete nature of the information given. The endeavour appears to have been in answering his questions to disclose, as little as possible. Question 5, for instance, was as follows: “Where does three-course [pavement] work end and two-course begin on the Taita and Silverstream sections ?” It would be thought that the answer to a question of this nature would be supplied without a moment’s hesitation. Clearly a record of the different thicknesses of pavement must be kept in order to determine the wearing capacity of the different pavements. The answer, however, was that “no record is kept in this office as to what part of these sections of road is treated with three-course work.” If this is a fact, then it is a good thing that Mr. Hoggard exposed the failure of the Board to keep proper records of the different classes of work done. If it is merely an evasion, then it is unworthy of a public body spending large sums of public money and owing an obligation to the community to justify that expenditure. *-* * *

There is a tendency to sweep aside criticism of our road paving methods on the ground that the new paved surfaces are so immeasurably superior to the old macadam roads. This is illogical and unreasonable, and simply avoids the real issue.. Our bitumen paved roads are a joy to the motorist, and no user of a car is likely to criticise or condemn them from the point of view of the advantages they possess over the ordinary unpaved surfaces. But that is not the issue. The real points are: (1) Whether the roads are the best we could get for the money expended on them; (2) whether road paving, which would meet our requirements equally well, could not be constructed at ■ less cost. Admittedly there is room for opposing views on these issues, but it is absurd to describe as captious criticism any expression of opinion by the member of a Highways Board which aims at reaching a sound conclusion on matters of such vital- importance. The extent to which the estimated cost of paving work has been falsified by the actual cost of the completed undertaking is a quite reasonable ground for comment. In the figures placed before the Board yesterday a supplementary return showed that on the more recently completed paving work (there are seven separate jobs) the cost of the work averaged something in excess of 30 per cent, above the estimate, or more than £ 1500 a mile. In some instances, no doubt, these discrepancies have been accounted for by unexpected contingencies; but they are none the less open to comment, if only as a warning against undue optimism iu preparing future estimates. There is no occasion for Mr. Hoggard or anyone else to apologise for keeping a critical eye on our road paving methods and costs. Even though we may be getting good roads, we. do not want to pay ,more than is necessary for them.

A resolution passed at the Miners’ Convention sitting at Sydney should not be allowed to pass without conqment. The Convention declared its realisation that strikes and continued short stoppages reacted disastrously on the rank and file of the mining industry, and it there decided to adopt conciliation as its future policy. The significance of this decision lies largely in the fact that the miners’ unions in the past have been amongst the most aggressive of the labour bodies favouring strike methods in industrial disputes. Millions have been lost to mine-owners and miners through strikes and lock-outs, and the folly of such methods appears at last to have come home to the Miners’ Convention., It is a happy, if belated, awakening to realities.