Evening Post. SATURDAY, DECEMBER. 3, 1910. THE PUBLIC WORKS SCRAMBLE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 134, 3 December 1910, Page 4

Evening Post. SATURDAY, DECEMBER. 3, 1910. THE PUBLIC WORKS SCRAMBLE.

The House of sat from 2.30 on Thursday afternoon till 3.30 yesterday morning. It then took a spell till 11 o'clock, thus allowing only seven hours and a-half for sleep and breakfast ; and, resuming at the hour named, it worked right through the day and night, reducing by half an hour even the accustomed interval for dinner. As we write, the sitting still continues, the evident determination being to bring the proceedings to a close at any cost today. It is a truly marvellous, way of doing business, and it is probable that all the long, dreary, and senseless weeks of " legislation by exhaustion " do not include a worse week than that which concludes to-day. Among the most Important business reserved for this final sitting was the debate on the Public Works Statement and the passing of the Public Works Estimates. We cannot recall an instance in which this particular business was kept back so long, and, even if any precedent can be found, it is plainly monstrous that the discussion and the voting of an expenditure totalling £2,855,000 should be taken when intelligent, and careful consideration of the work in hand is a physical impossibility. So far as the Estimates are concerned, the best that can be said for the procedure is that they are to a lax'ge extent of such a character that intelligent criticism of them is beyond the power of the most conscientious member, even under the most favourable conditions. The merits of 99 per cent, of the petty local works which are starred all over these Estimates baffle the most searching investigation that any but the local member can make, and in his case the value of his knowledge is heavily discounted by the inevitable bias in favour of his constituents. It is not, however, for those who defend and maintain the wasteful and demoralising system of doles for parochial purposes from the central fund to urge that an intelligent grasp of what the bulk of these votes mean is beyondl the capacity of the men who pass them. Such a plea would amount to a confession that these local grants are regulated by a system of log-rolling with which understanding of the country's needs has nothing to do. , The remedy for this vicious system is to be found in an enlargement of the functions of local government in the country districts. Such a measure was promised by Sir Joseph Ward in his policy speech at Wyndham seven months ago, and the promise was renewed in the Governor's Speech, but where is the Bill? Mr. Hogg, who has to be regarded as an expert in these matters, urged that the immediate necessities were roads and bridges, and his criticism of the Government for what he regarded as its niggardly expenditure in his own district evoked an interesting rejoinder from the Minister of Public Works. Mr. Hogg, who had previously held this portfolio, had, it seems, been no less benevolent as a Minister than he had been exacting as a private member, with the result, according to his successor, that all the money voted ' for twelve months had been expended in about three months. We perhaps ought to congratulate Mr. Hogg upon his consistency, but it is certainly safer for the country that he has resumed the role of a private member. A few years ago Mr. Hogg likened members dealing with the Public Works Estimates to a pack of hungry dogs after a bone. At that time he had himself a well-fed and self-satisfied air, but he appears to be very hungry now. He declares that' not a shilling was spent on roads in his electorate last year — an outrage which we find it difficult to believe. Mr. Hogg declares that if there js to be a scramble he does not blame members for getting all that they can, and what he cannot blame in others he is naturally ready to practise himself. What else can be expected under the centralised administration that has prevailed ever since the abolition of the provinces ? One small economy which was introduced by the Government as a part of its retrenchment ocheme came in, we regret to see, for some adverse criticism yesterday. Mr. Jennings complained of the abolition of the Roads Department as a serious blunder, but the Minister replied that its amalgamation with the Publio Works Department had saved the country £30,000 a -year. Economy in these departments was sore'y needed,' and we cannot suppose that the defects of which Mr. Jennings complaint are a necessary incident of the