THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1908, Page 6

THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

There are at -my rate two points in the Public Works Statement laid before the House of Representatives last night upon which Mr. 'Hall-Jones is entitled to our sincere congratulations. The first 's o£ a personal nature. Last session he was not in his accustomed place, and the Public Works Statement was submitted by 'Mr. M'Gowan as Acting-Minister for Public Works. Everybody is pleased that the hope expressed in last year's Statement for the 'Minister's speedy restoration to health has been realised, and that Mr. Hall-Jones needed no deputy to act on his behalf last night. The question inevitably suggests itself— though it is not for us to discuss it now — whether the excessive personal attention to administrative details which was largely responsible for the breakdown of both Mr. Hall-Jones and his late leader, has been appreciably Teduced by the methods of the present Ministry. It Is to be feared that here, as in so many other directions, their admirable profes6ions have not proved incompatible with an adherence to old abuses. The other point for congratulation is, of course, the practical completion of the North Island Main Trunk Railway, to which the Minister refers as "the outstanding featuio of tne Statement." jfor so many years the prophocy of the speedy completion of this great work had been the outstanding feature of the fublic Works Statement that the most sanguine of us had become very sceptical on the point. But despite our incredulity, the snail's pace at which the work had progressed xor twenty years has been appreciably quickened during the last three, and the successful running of the Parliamentary train between Wellington and Auckland last month was a proof that the end was really in sight. The promise of last year's Statement that the rails between Auckland and Wellington would be connected by the end of 1908 has thus, as the 'Minister said last night, been ''morethan fulfilled." November Ist is mentioned as the probable date for the running of passengers over the whole line, which will be just five weeks ahead of the date fixed for the acquisition of tho Wellington and Manawatu Railway by the State. The total cost of the Main Trunk line, including road construction and improvement works, has exceeded £2,500,000, representing an. average annual expenditure of about £110,000. The Minister speaks of tnis rate "extending over so long a period" as satisfactory, but few will be disposed to agrea with him. The length of the period, which he seems to regard as a constant justifying the small annual expenditure, is surely the result of that niggardly expenditure and not the caiise or justification of it. No doubt for some years after uhe turning of the first sod in. 1 1885 & large outlay was an impossibility in the then financial condition of the colony, and the recent expenditure — the totat for last year was £330,224 — has been on a fairly reasonable scale. But it is not to the credit of the Government or of tne people that during the greater part of the fat years which we have now enjoyed for so long the greatest of our public works nas been systematically starved in order that there may be the more money available for the placation of parochial feeling and the purchase ot political support. Now that the North Island Main Trunk Kailway is out of \he way — (/r shortly will be, for a further expenditure of £225,000 will still oe required during the current year — what guarantee have we that the wider openings thus provided for the illegitimate frittering away of the public money in. sops and doles will not be fully utilised? Under the present system, "roads and bridges" must continue to be ( tha current coin of political corruption, and there is not the faintest indication that Ministers have any intention of laying their axe at the root of this unlovely growth or o* doing anything more than pruning its twigs and enjoying its fruits. The total amount of the appropriations proposed for the present year is £2,721,450 as against £2,521,210 voted and £2,106,362 expended last year. In view of the near approach of the general election and ot the heavy expenditure necessitated by the burning of the Parliament House, the increase cannot be regarded as abnormal. One large new item will meet with genera) approval, and that is the sum of £250,000 to be appropriated in pursuance of the proraise in the Budget to the roading of the back-blocks. A reference, however, to the general vote for roads in the Estimates shows that a large number of items which formerly figured in that class have now been transferred to the special vote foi the back-Dlocks. Of course, the voting or the money does not necessarily mean that it will be expended. An extraordniary point about last year's transactions is the huge difference between tne amount authorised for expenditure on the construction and maintenance of roads and the amount actually spent. The amount authorised was £619,727, the net expenditure was I £383,997, or but little more than half. This amazing discrepancy is declared by the Minister to be principally due to "the very great scarcity of labour of the kind required, the greater part of the men being otherwise occupied at what appeared to them to be more congenial employment." This is the strongest testimony yet produced on the employers* side ot the controversy which waxed warm two or three months ago. J3at it is safe to assume that the changed condition of the industrial — and the electoral — markets will prevent any such wide gap between votes and expenditures during the current year.

Miss M. Cressweli, of Foxton, has just left with the Tourist Department an exquisitely carved model of a Maori canoe. It is 3ft 3in long and 3fin beam, and is perfect as to details, and fitted with a sail. Miss Cressweli has had but little assistance with the sail — which she has made of rushes — as the' onlyknown Maori sail in existence is in the British Museum. The carving of the head and stern pieces is most delicately done, and parts are inlaid with mother1 o'-pearl.