PUBLIC WORKS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 18237, 27 October 1919, Page 6

PUBLIC WORKS.

1 One of the complaints that we offered an our comment last Saturday on tee

subject .'of public works is that tho Government grossly favours the North Island, where most of tho Reform imembors* belong. Wo hope tho people in this part of the country are taking ■ notice and will see that as few Reformers as possible are sent to Parliament, This island will never get justice from a Massey Government in the matter of

publio works, and there is no use mincing words about it. The only hope for the South is a change in the { Administration —a return to Liberalism jmd equitable treatment. The facte of ithe case speak eloquently. Even jour-

■fcals which support the Government cannot ignore the outstanding truth that ■ ■ the great bulk of the public works /money goes to the North, where it is very largely wasted through the exiponditure being scattered among a multiplicity of works, so that little progress is made anywhere. The favouritism accorded to the other island has J now become so gross that even the .'“New Zealand Herald” hasceased to ! complain, or very nearly ceased. Its comment upon the Public Works Statement of last week is quite the most appreciative that has appeared for a Jong time in a northern newspaper. “The most satisfactory feature of the Statement,” it says, “ is that it oon- ! .pedes in largo measure the legitimate elfcime of the North Island,” and a liable is given to show how the North jtland has, during recent yearn, been “coming to its own.” We cannot do

better than reproduce the table for the benefit of southerners. The figures refer to railway expenditure:—-

This little statement can be made just as useful to Canterbury as to Auckland readers. To* the latter it shows the benefits to be derived from a partial Government; to the former it shows the other side of the picture—the disadvantages of having in power a party which believes in spoils to the victors. And the evil is growing, as tl)e “ Herald ” has been good enough to illustrate. Last year the . North Island got 76.9 per cent of the total expenditure on railways, or £333 for every £IOO spent in the South Island. In the current estimates 78.3 per cent of the total is provided for the North, or £360 for every £IOO in tho South. Hie North Island is indeed “coming to its own,” and a good deal over. But our friends in the fortunate province of Auckland are not yet fully satisfied. The Statement “concedes in large measure” the “legitimate” claims of the North, it is admitted, but more would be appreciated. The vote for the Pneroa-Pukeno railway is described by the “Herald” as “small,” while it says, in a tone of reproach, that tho Midland Railway “still receives a large vote.” These good people hove found the Massey Government so partial that they are encouraged to clamour for more. The moral is for the South Island to do its share at the general election in defeating tho party that is responsible for so flagrantly ignoring justice and economy in its distribution of public expenditure.

North. Island. South Island. £ £ 19171918- • . 857,000 . . 349,000 . ' . 227,000 - . 214,000 • . 232,079 806,000 252,000 85,000 74,000 69,668' Estimates— 1919-20 . . 434,200 134,600