MAIN HIGHWAYS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 153, 31 May 1937, Page 2

MAIN HIGHWAYS

COSTS TO THE COUNTIES

MINISTER’S CRITICISMS. Per Press Association. GISBORNE, May 30. A denunciation of the old scheme'of things whereby the construction and maintenance of main highways was a liability on the county councils was made by the Minister of Public Works (Hon. It. Semple) at Gisborne on Saturday when speaking to a deputation representative of Cook County Council ratepayers. “It was a colossal blunder ever to have asked the counties of this country to pay mqney toward the main highways,” he asserted. To that policy the Minister attributed the plight of many counties throughout the Dominion in being unable to find money lor secondary and backblock roads. He said the Government had taken over 2000 miles of highways last year, and as a result had saved the counties £200,000. The counties should never have been called upon to pay money for the highways. The main arterial highways were not county liabilities any more than the railways were. 'lf the counties had not been asked to pay for the highways, they would have had money to spend on county roads. To-day there were hundreds of farmers stuck in the mud.

“We are trying to patch up the mistakes of the past,” declared the Minister. “It was a political blunder of the greatest magnitude. I am not going to suggest that a review of these liabilities will not take place. They will some day. Unless we have some other system for the construction and maintenance of roads, those farmers who have been stuck in the mud for years will stay in the mud. To leave the farmer there not only means hamstringing him, but it prevents him taking the total possible production from his property and that automatically affects the nation as a whole. As soon as I got the opportunity I gave the maximum relier possible at cue time. The plight the counties are in to-day was brought about by thenbeing saddled with a burden they shou.d never have been asked to carry.”

ADVICE TO COUNTIES.

HON. R. SEMPLE AT GISBORNE. Per Press Association. GISBORNE, May 30. “It is perfectly true that when I was here last I made reference to die riding system, and said that in my opinion it was a system that bail outlived its usefulness,” said the Minister of Public Works (Hon. It. Semple) in replying on Saturday to a deputation of Cook County Council ratepayers seeking a measure of relief partly through the abolition of ridings and partly through decreased costs. ’“I would rather see the counties abolish this system voluntarily than compulsorily. Fiity out of 120 counties have abolished ridings.” The Minister said a good deal of propaganda had been broadcast about the disastrous effect of higher costs, t should be. remembered, however, that the present Government in common with other Governments had been trying to give measures of relief to the farmers, including the exchange rate, which represented a saving of between £8.000,000 and £10,000,000, and was designed for the farmers. The present Government had instituted guaranteed prices for butter and cheese, dome farmers had claimed that the prices were inequitable, but the Minister 'reminded them that they were subject to review at the end of the year. New Zealand was the only place in the world where .this scheme had been put into practice and the fact that it was entirely new legislation should not be lost sight of. A guaranteed price made it impossible for the farmers of this country ever to be paid a slump price again, declared the Minister. If they were not satisfied they had their remedy A poll could be taken of the farmers of the country, and they could, if they wished, discard the system- of guaranteed prices, and run the risk of receiving 6d per lb for their dairy products. If prices for butter were more than the guaranteed price, the farmer would receive the benefit of that in due course, so it was not quite fair to say that the Government had done something that would drive the farmer into bankruptcy. If the farmers of the country wanted to go back to the stage of gambling with their produce, the Government did not .mind.

The Minister sajid lie made no apology for higher wages. Every man in the Dominion, whether a farmer or otherwise, who rendered service, was entitled to his legitimate share of productivity of the country. He repeated that lie had no apology for compelling the employer of labour to pay higher wages, because it had a beneficial reaction on commerce and ttiemdustrial activities of the country. On public works the men were being paid what they earned, and wherever possible the jobs had been mechanised as a means of compensating for the higher wage bills. By this means the charges had been reduced from 80 per cent, to 33 1-3 per cent. The Minister contended that the counties of the Dominion would have to follow along those lines. Some of the gear he had seen belonging to some counties belonged to the Stone Age or might, have come out of Noah's Ark. The counties should do their work economically by utilising the most up-to-date mechanical equipment available.