VAST EXPENDITURE

Northern Advocate, 8 November 1932, Page 8

VAST EXPENDITURE

UNEMPLOYMENT POLICY. CRITICAL EXAMINATION.. PART OF LOCAL BODIES. (From Our Parliamentary Special.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Considerable dissatisfaction has been expressed by some members of Parliament with the Government unemployment policy. Labour members have been openly hostile to almost every phase of the administration, and while little is heard from the Government side of the House, much consideration has been, given by many members to the present policy of permitting local bodies to carry out all manner of works whether they are likely to be reproductive or not. It is believed in many quarters that this plan is fundamentally unsound. The proposal that there should be a complete investigation into unfinished public works has many supporters. It is argued that if it were shown, as the result of such an investigation by, say, a. Select Committee of the House, that the losses on these works would be loss when they are finished than they are now in their unfinished state, then it would be good policy to devote a portion of the unemployment funds to finishing them. If it were found that, when finished, the annual losses would be greater than they are today, then the works should be abandoned. One member with many years of experience .holds the belief that it would lie of value to the Dominion to complete the South Island Alain Trunk railway and the Napier—Gisborne line. The Railways Commission reported' that it would cost another £1,500,000 to finish the Napier—Gisborne line, and £2,000,000 to finish the South Island Main Trunk. Sufficient plant, for the completion of these works is already in the possession of the Public Works Department. Tiie Railways Commission reported adversely on both the proposals, but it is argued that the commission investigated the uncompleted lines on the basis of how they would affect the working railways account, and not from the point of view of the general taxpayer, who, in any ease, had to make good any losses suffered by that account, and also had to pay the huge annual interest bill on these incomplete works. However, those who have been expressing these view's ('state that all they ask for is a complete .investigation. They point out that work has been slowed down on the Waitaki hydro-electric scheme. The longer the job takes to complete the greater are the interest costs. “We are spending £3,500,000 on the relief of unemployment, and, when the slump is over, what assets are wc going to have for all this expend!- ■ ture?” said one member. "The princdple of spending public money on private property is unsound; it. should be used to create assets for the people. Presently we are going to find that the slump is over, that prosperity will demand the completion of some of these incomplete jobs, and we will have to face another burden of taxation to carry on the work. The wages tax is the most severe tax that has ever been imposed on the Dominion as a whole, and as much as possible of it. should be devoted to casing the burdens of the future.”