THE MATAMATA RECORD. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1927. OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS. THE PUBLIC PAYS.

Matamata Record, Volume X, Issue 883, 15 December 1927, Page 4

THE MATAMATA RECORD. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1927. OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS. THE PUBLIC PAYS.

AS we exclusively forshadowed in the Press last week the Public Works Department have taken over the great task of building the powerhouse at Arapuni. The Settlement of the dispute already indicates a vic=* tory all along the line for the contractors. . ~i;lt' is suggested, in many quarters that there is reason for con- ’ 1 bf the settlement. We fail to see cause for any congratulation. If congratulations must be given then they should be bestowed on Messrs. Armstrong, Whitworth, Ltd., for their signal vicory. The more the settlement is studied with a knowledge of. the 1 facts, the more it becomes a damning J indictment of our Public Works Department and its political sponsors. | The settlement as published tells much, yet it tells little of what the public want to know and should be told. It is quite safe, however, to say that the completion of the job will cost more, and take longer, than has been suggested. It other words, it will be Mangahao over again, and perhaps worse. The dilly-dallying of the past eighteen months has culminated in an unforgiveable > muddle, both contributing parties to the . costly dispute escape scot free, and the public will once again have to pay many millions more than the original i estimate.

In the terms of settlement the contractors are to,be paid in full for all work done, for all erections, and for any construction plant required on the job. The estimated loss of a million, which we think below the mark, has to be found by the innocent party—the public. What (if the future? To take one aspect alone on which the settlement 'is silent. Who is to pay .the cost of deepening the river below the power-house site, and how much more will this job cost as a result of the thousands upon thousands of yards of spoil which have been dumped into the river from the work which has already been done on the excavations at the foot of the penstocks? There is, of course, but one answer —the public. In regard to the time factor, again there is silence. A tentative suggestion has placed the completion,of the job at eighteen months from the present date. It is, however, the qualified estimate, and we suggest a sanguine one at that, of the chief electrical engineer. What are this gentleman's qualifications for so speaking to the country? And why the silence of the party who should so advise—the engineer-in-chief ? Is it because this gentleman’s previous estimate was so very wide of the mark? * ■ ■

There is need-Jfor a definite and detailed statement on the whole position. It should come from the Prime Minister. Public servants in New Zealand occupy far too prominent a position in the public aspect of- such questions, and such prominence can have no other than a baneful effect. In no other country in the world would public servants, no matter how high their standing, give, or be requested to give, comments or expressions of opinions on such situations. It would be at the cost of their positions to do so. That it is done in New Zealand is a striking commentary on the pass to which we have become reduced by pseudo politicians. It spells in the latter mediocrity ; in the former it is bureaucracy run amok. It is largely, we think, to this state of affairs that the whole Arapuni trouble is due. There has been too little control by Ministers of State, and too much autocracy iby the bureaucrat. A readjustment needs to be made, and until this comes about such muddles as Arapuni are bound to occur. Responsibility must be sheeted home in a direct manner, else there can be no efficiency. In all cases, in the end, the Government of the day has : to accept the blame. In this .instance they are culpable in two directions—in lack of direction to their experts, and in lack of vision to tiie future.—Putaruru Press.