ANTIQUATED METHODS

Marlborough Express, Volume LIIII, Issue 81, 7 April 1920, Page 3

ANTIQUATED METHODS

PUBLIC WORKS DELAYS,

BARROWS VERSUS STEAM

SHOVELS

Considerable comment has followed the publication of the details d the Whaka.tane inquiry into the condition of affairs in connection with the public works' of that district. Attention is directed: to the fact that at ihe very moiment when the new Minister for Public Works was informing a deputation that he intended to "concentrate ' «nd' complete" works, an engineer had been despatched by tho Public Works Department to start yet another branch line—-this time fmm Wairoa fto a new i'ronu in Hawke's Bay. "So new ground is broken. is the comment, "and a few more barrows aa-ia put into when all over the country thero^aa'e ends of railways waiting to be completed."" The latest development on tlie East Coast it was iiointcd out to n. Times representative, was but typical of the method adopted. There wero gaps in jine-j overywheroj the progi'ess wa.s amazingly slow, and if there were cheaper recpiiftitruotion there would be more money available to increase the wages of tho railwaymen. In this connection an Auckland pa,per says: "Men ciissatisfied with cheir pay, 200 withdrawals, from work on <>ne section, nine overseers to 35 men ni 19 miles, and in a large cutting two men Working with barrows -—it i& net exactly a picture of energy, speed, and up-to-date equipment. We Jiaive some recollection of having re-ad that the Department has sent, or mean's xo send, an official to America, to look into the question of labcir-saving machinery. We hope tlxis is the ca«c, and that his report will be acted on vigorously. The day of b*i,rrows is over. It seems to us that this, little picture of two' men cutting through a hill all by themselves would stand "for the whole trend of public works policy in New Zealand. The thing that should be symbolical is the steam shoTfcl."