“P.W. STATEMENT FULL OF SELF PRAISE"

Northern Advocate, 30 November 1937, Page 8

“P.W. STATEMENT FULL OF SELF PRAISE"

-MR HAMILTON

[Per Press Association. Copyright.] WELLINGTON, This Day.

A claim that the Public Works Statement appeared to be full of selfpraise and a bit of a boost for the Government was made by the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. A. Hamilton, when the House of Representatives was discussing' the report and the Public Works Statement yesterday. A few years ago, said Mr Hamilton, £25,000.000 to £30,000,000 were beingspent on Public Works ,but this year it would appear that it would reach the £50,000,000 mark. Mr Hamilton complained of the apparent confusion existing between the Public Works Statement, the Public Works Estimates and the Budget, and said it would provide an unsolvable problem to the cleverest accountant in the Dominion. Instances Quoted. In answer to a question by the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, who asked him to point out some specific case where the figures failed to tally, Mr Hamilton quoted the sum of £4.165,000 in the Main Highways Account, and that for roads, highways, etc., of £5.708,000 in the Budget. It seemed to him that confusion and the withholding of certain information was a weapon which the Government was using. He compared the total 'of £17.367,000 for Public Works in the Budget with the total of £13.370,000 in the Public Works Estimates. Jt was pretty hard to make those two totals tally. Where is Money Coming X-rOm? He asked the Minister to tell them where the money was coming from for Public Works. Was it, he asked, coming from loan funds, from the Consolidated Fund, the Highways Fund and the Unemployment Funds? The Minister had said that all works being done were useful and essential, but Mr Hamilton thought it would be better if he had called it relief work. I The Minister of Finance, said Mr Hamilton, had stated the money would come from the Post Office Savings j Bank and from other Government dej partments. It seemed to him that ' funds might be running short by this i time.

Should Live Within Income,

He stressed the fact that the wool cheque might be reduced by half this year and contended that in boom times the country should at least live within its income.

Much of the Public Works being done, he said, would not return interest on its own investment, and he felt that under the present programme the Government was getting ahead of the nation’s ability to carry its own debt. Some of the money being spent on the elimination of level crossings was an absolute waste, and he instanced a crossing in the Awarua electorate, which had been wanted by no one, but been insisted on by the Minister. Mr Hamilton asked what the railways now being constructed were costing per mile, and advised caution in expenditure on new works.