NEEDED PUBLIC WORKS

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 155, 28 December 1918, Page 6

NEEDED PUBLIC WORKS

The Mayor's municipal declaration, published in the Evening Post of 23rd December, is a panorama rather than a. programme. It touches on a series of works in a general, sketchy way, without attempting to define their specific limits ov their order of preference; yet it is a useful compilation of things- to be done, stimulative of thought, and in keeping with the spirit of post-war activity. At the outset it has to be- admitted that the acid test is not what the city and the Government ought to do, but what they financially can do; and their financial limits .will be partly set by post-war economic conditions which no man can correctly forecast; New railways, newrailway stations (of which Wellington's is the most urgsutj, new vommujikatioM generally, hydra-electric jjueUrtakiugSi

repatriation, housing—all these will consume many millions, which must be borrowed either locally or in the overtaxed money market of the Old World. But though it is impossible to say how long our financial tether may be two or three years hence, it' is well to look ahead and to classify public works according to their cost and their urgency. It is in this' spirit that we alpproach the propositions put forward by the Mayor, who is to be thanked for having given the ratepayers and the electors something to think about. No doubt, when peace becomes assured and market conditions more stable, he will also be able to give the public not only an alternative but a lead. Public works policy has been stimulated from two sources—the war and the epidemic. From the war, because of the needs of the returned soldier. From ths epidemic, because it has driven, let us hope, a final nail in the coffin of the old housing conditions. While the memory of the influenza visitation is fresh, no policy will be more popular than that of uprooting squalid city quarters; which, of course, would connote the simultaneous provision of new and adequate housing elsewhere. This is one of the vital questions which the Mayor does not do more than refer to. He explainsthat congestion in the city is the subject of a comprehensive report by the City Engineer and controller of the tramways (Mr. W. H. Morton) j and the Mayor awaits the publication of this important document before offering his- own opinions. Speaking in anticipation, we venture to hope that, in tackling this vital problem, the City Engineer is about to add another great service to those which h.9 has already rendered to the people of Wellington. If he succeeds in finding a practical and economic solution, whereby the chronic congestion of this hill-encir-cled city will be reduced, he will succeed where everybody else has hitherto conspicuously failed. The Mayor's remarks concerning an extension of Greater Wellington, an increased watei supply, and improved drainage are in progressive spirit, but we would like him to speak, more definitely on the power question. At present Wellington has two steam-electric power stations, one for traction and one foi lighting, Ii no hydro-electric power were promised, then there would be no doubt whatever of the necessity of immediately establishing a combined power station on a third site, each of the present sites being inadequate to carry a combined plant. The questions arise: Can the present stations stagger along under the city load until the hydro-elec-tric service arrives, or must the council 1 immediately put in hand a combined plant (steam-electric) on a new site? Also, if a combined steam-electric plant is set up on a new site, will it be regarded merely as a present stop-gap and as a future stand-by to hydro-electric, or does the tramway management contemplate the permanent use of steam-electric? We gather that the Mayor affirms the stand-by character of the proposed steamelectric plant, but we would like to hear his views expressed,with greater definiteness. With regard to the Mayor's reference to dispensing with "the present small units,/' it would ber*iiteresting to know .whether all the present machinery is to be disposed of, and, if so, in what way. A heavy expenditure on. a stopgap plant is not a thing to be welcomed, but if it is to be stand-by as 'well as stop-gap—and if the present units are equal to neither purpose —then the. expenditure appears to be unavoidable.