ACTIVE PUBLIC WORKS POLICY

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 302, 17 September 1936, Page 13

ACTIVE PUBLIC WORKS POLICY

Creation of National Assets Aimed at by Minister

FACILITIES FOR ALL CLASSES OF TRANSPORT Considerable Expenditure on Public Buildings

Proposals for an active public works _ policy involving an expenditure this year of £8,543,700 are outlined by the Hon. R. Semple, in his first Public Works Statement which he presented in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon. Much ot this money will be expended in the construction of transport com munications, including railways, highways, roads and aerodromes. Simultaneously with the presentation of the statement the Public Works Estimates were brought down by Governor-General s Message. ... , The Minister explained that at the earliest possible moment after taking office he issued a properly-planned programme of the department’s activities, together with instructions that in future public works were to be undertaken as standard works, and that a departure was to be made from the relief system which had been followed for years past. It was intended to increase the number employed on public works to 20,000 as soon as possible. The desire of the Government to embark on an extensive programme for the elimination of railway level-crossings over main highways was mentioned by Mr. Semple, who said that in a few months a very large number of these works would be under way. He was anxious to improve the roads, to backblock settlers, and this year over £1,000,000 would be provided for that purpose, and for opening-up further lands for development. He intended to do all he could to render roads safer for modern methods ot transport and travel. . . The Minister said he was anxious to pursue an energetic policy of public works so as to provide national assets, and at the same time assist in relieving the distress caused by the drastic cessation of constructional works by the late Government. Mr. Semple expressed his firm belief in the co-operative contract system of working.

"Since I took control of the Public Works Department in December last

my whole energies hare been concentrated in endeavouring to revitalise the activities of this important department,’’ said Mr. Semple. “On assuming office I found there was not in existence a policy which could be relied upon to give sufficient guidance to the head of the department and his staff and which was necessary if the department was to function in the most efficient and satisfactory way. My effort has been to frame a policy such as I believe will ultimately result in clearly defining the system upon which the Government intends to carry out Its public works, and which will give to the department that lead which it can rightly expect from the Minister in control.

“I was quite prepared to find, owing to several years of financial depression, that there might not be a settled policy, and I make due allowance for such difficulties, - but I was not prepared to find that the whole of the public works activities had been converted into a system of relief for unemployment. With this end solely in view, methods of work had been adopted which were not "only uneconomical but, to say the least of it, were highly demoralising to the men compelled to work under such conditions. It was a surprise to me that after years of work under this system the staff and workmen of tJae department should have retained the will and energy to work, which I found still existed among them. “The whole position was most unsatisfactory, and gave absolutely no incentive to anyone to give of his best. New life needed to be infused into the workmen employed by the department. In general, no exception could be taken to the value of the works upon which they were engaged. Some of them I did not approve of, and I did not hesitate to stop them. Others I would have stopped had they not progressed too far to make it inadvisable to do so; there were other works which should obviously have been started and had not. The Government has gone carefully into the necessity or otherwise of such works, and many of them have now been put in hand. I venture to say that there is not one of them that will not be found to return some economic value to the State. Use of Machinery. “In an age when machinery is doing so much to relieve the burden of hard work, and to reduce expenditure in every direction, I could not agree to | continue to carry out work by methods i that involved the unnecessary expenditure of energy and increase in cost, such as is inherent in a system of work for the relief of unemployment only! The engineers of my department have had to carry out a most unpleasant and distasteful duty in being asked to do work in such a way, and I am doing all I can to give them the plant and machinery that will enable them to undertake work in the way it should be carried out in this enlightened age. I have» of course, found it necessary to hold a baalnce between the use of machinery and the employment of men who are willing to work and cannot find work, and so far I have not found it necessary to diminish the number of men employed, but rather to keep them employed in a more useful way. I could not, however, ask men to work industriously for the inadequate liviiis wage they were receiving when present Government took control of public works. , “When the Government assumed office at the beginning of December, 1935, 13,696 men were employed on public works, of whom 8289 were employed on relief work, while for the week ending August 15, 1936, 1.i,8.il men were employed, most of whom were on standard works. It is intended to increase the number employed on public works to 20,000 as soon as possible.

“I firmly believe in the co-opera-tive contract system of working. This system has been in operation on public works for over 40 years, anoll am convinced that it encourages rue men to give of their best, because they are paid by results and know that they will be paid for what they earn. I have instructed that this system is to be continued at prices allowing men of average ability working industriously to earn the daily rates of wages provided for in the agreement. The workmen are allowed to select lheir ‘work males and to appoint their own headman.’’

The present Government, added Mr. Semite, was to remedy the position ty for i reagonaHe

development of the national resources, using ordinary revenue to assist where the works were of such a nature as not to realise a full return of the annual cost. A study of the proposed expenditure on public works for this year showed that much the greater portion was needed for means of transport and travel. Under broad headings the proposed expenditure was, as follows: —

Railways and Roads. “Railways will this < year form a much larger proportion of the cost of the first item than they have for the past few years,” the Minister continued. “Work has been recommenced on the Napier-Gisborne railway, the South Island Main Trunk railway, and the Westport-Inangahua railway. Additional railway construction under the control of the Public Works Department will be the Turakina-Okoia deviation on the Wellington-New Plymouth railway. The proposed expenditure on road communications is very much larger this year than it has ever been in the past, and is more than half the total for all public works. On main highways alone it is proposed to expend £3,050,000, but more than £2,000,000 of this is received from revenue.

“The Government is anxious to embark on an extensive programme for the elimination of railway levelcrossings over main highways, and ® prepared to place a very considerable sinn of money on the estimates for this purpose. The design of these crossings, however, involves in each case a problem of its own, (and some time must elapse before the ful> effect of the programme is felt, but I have instructed the department to expedite the work as much as possible.

“I am particularly anxious to improve the roads to our backblock settlers in order to give them easy access to. their markets and ports of export, and this year over a million pounds will be provided for this purpose, and for the opening-up of further lands for development. With the policy of land improvement and reclamation, and improved methods of transport, our reading system must be brought up to a higher standard than has existed in the past.

“As Minister of Transport I have a paricular interest in improved road conditions, and propose to do all 1 can to render our roads safer for modern methods of transport and travel. Railways and roads are our chief means for* the transportation of the products of the country, and the necessities of the community in general, and are still our principal mean? of passenger travel, but I believe the day is not far distant when travel by air will play a big part in the passenger traffic of this country. Aerodromes and Landing Grounds, “A comparatively large vote from the Consolidated Fund is asked for this year for the construction of aerodromes and emergency landing-grounds, without which safe and adequate communication by air would be impossible. With an annual provision of this amount, or even less, for the next two or three years, I anticipate that air travel in this country will be placed on a safe and satisfactory basis. I consider that the construction of aerodromes is at present lagging behind the development of aviation in general. •The work of erecting public buildings is also very much behind what it should be to keep pace with the development of social and other services of the Government. “Instructions were given to the Public Works Department to increase its staff considerably to cope with this work. This has been done, and the architectural staff has been more than doubled. Anticipating that even this may not wholly meet the demand for public buildings, permission has been given to the heads of the departments for which buildings are required to allocate some work to architects in private practice if it should be necessary. Land Development. “Land development and improvement is considered most desirable by the Government. Irrigation playa a large part in the improvement of our farm lands in the South Island, and the Government is anxious to extend work <rf tWfl nature provided it can eecuri

to itself an adequate return for the expenditure involved in meeting the annual changes on money borrowed for this purpose. “Hydro-electric supply has received a good deal of my attention since I assumed office. One of the proposed new works to increase power-supply was under investigation at Waikaremoana. I was not satisfied that this was a sufficiently safe proposal, and therefore ordered the work to be stopped until I had an opportunity of going fully into the design of the scheme. This I intend to do as soon as possible. Works for the increase of power-supply from Arapuni were well advanced when I took control of the department. I am not sure that I would have agreed to this work, but as it had progressed so far I have not taken any steps to prevent its completion. Further electric power will soon be required to cope with the demand, and a programme of additional work will shortly be considered.”

The gross expenditure in connection with the Public Works Fund for the year 1935-36 amounted to £6,663,091, of which £1,347,097 was expended by other Government departments; the recoveries in reduction of expenditure amounted to £1,508.549, of which £500,958 was recovered by other departments; the net expenditure totalled £5,154,542, of which £846,139 was expended by other departments. In audition the department collected £l,028,416 from sales of electricity and from other forms of revenue. The estimated net expenditure under the General Purposes Account for the current financial year, 1936-37, was £4,686,700, and arrangements were being made with the Minister of Finance to provide the necessary funds. This was the amount shown on the Public Works estimates, which also showed an estimated net expenditure of £764.000 from the Electric Supply Account and £2.752.000 from the Main Highways Account, a total for all these accounts of £8,202,700.

(1) Construction of means £ of communication and transport (railways, highways, roads, harbours, and aerodromes) 5,605,700 (2) Land development, ineluding settlement of unemployed workers 959,000 (3) Erection of public build1,215,000 (4) Development* of electric power 764,000 £8,543,700