£14,263,000 Loan Money; Public Works

Northern Advocate, 21 July 1938, Page 5

£14,263,000 Loan Money; Public Works

[Special to “Northern Advocate.’'] WELLINGTON. This Day. An estimated expenditure of tf20.71H.000 on Public Works for the year UGB-btJ was announced by the Non, W. Nash, in presenting the Budget to Parliament last night. The details were as follows: Railway construction and improvements, .£5,186,000: highways and roads, £6,537,200; public buildings. £2.360.000; land settlement, development and improvement. £3.081.500; hydro -electric development £1.556.000: telegraph and telephone extensions. £750.000; other works t aerodromes, plant and material. upkeep of buildings. etc), £ 1.240,000. Of this total it is anticipated that £14.263,000 will require to bo raised by loans, the balance being available from taxation, electricity sales, disposal of farm and forest produce, transfers from the Employment Promo; inn Fund, and from miscellaneous revenue sources. Public Works ami Prosperity. "It is not without significance that the periods of greatest relative prosperity in tlie Dominion have been those associated with a vigorous public works policy." the Minister continued. “Certain writers have laid clown the principle that public works should be used as a kind of balancing factor to be extended in periods of depression and damped down during booms. The unconditional application of this formula is neither as simple nor as valid as may bo imagined. Apart from the fact that a new public works programme is slow to swing into action, with the result that a depression may get beyond immediate control, it is only in limes of prosperity that, for instance, the demand for telephones and telegraph facilities is heavy, that more and better motoring facilities are urged, that increased housing is especially necessary, that the electricity load grows rapidly, that farmers are prepared to pay for irrigation and similar facilities, and that land development and settlement become especially worth while. “In any case, the present Government does not subscribe to the view that public works should be regarded as a palliative to he undertaken only when private en-

' lorprisc I'.:il-' b? nroviJc <hc nscchI ■ sr.ry facilities or to ofTcr the required employment. The present Government’s policy is to promote j or expand public works on their I individual merits us projects of j public development. "Ourinn tho depression .wars public | works generally were woefully nc- | fleeted, as u comparison of yearly ox- ■ penditures will clearly indicate. Toj day many Government offices IhroughI cut the Dominion are both overcrowdj ed and cut of date, and in the centres j private accommodation on a large i scale has had to be rented in order to i provide for essential requirements. In i public buildings alone there is jusli- | liable scope for Government activity ' for many years to come, while in the | meantime progress is limited only by I the shortage of skilled labour. Railways. j "On railway construction last year | the sum of £1,120,218 was expended j under the relative vote, while for the :current year £1.440,000 is being alloi cated to enable the work on existing ! lines in both Islands tc be continued, and also tc permit of commencement of work on the Dargaville branch and Paeroa-Pokeno lengths, together with the ..requisite surveys and preliminary steps for the Rfmutaka Tunnel and the Taneatua-Opotiki line. "The related programme of improvements and additions to open linos of railways is a large one for the current year in an effort to catch up on the shortage of wagons, locomotives, and other rolling-stock. The year’s expenditure is estimated at £3,746,000, comprising £2,844,000 from loan moneys and the balance from de- } preefation and renewals reserves and j revenue. Last year’s net vote expenditure was £1.292.772. Public Buildings. j “Apart from the housing programme, i the public buildings programme for j this year is also extensive, the proposed expenditure amounting to £2.360.000. comprising £820.000 for school buildings of various descriptions and £1,540,000 for postal and telegraph buildings, for general departmental office buildings, for air defence, and for mental hospital buildings, courthouses and police stations. General control is being exercised so that contracts for new buildings are let or withheld having due regard to the existing building activity in any particular locality and also to the supply of skilled tradesmen. Last year’s net expenditure on education buildings was £546.846. and on other public buildings £687,702. Roads and Highways. | “In earlier years, reading activities | were directed more to the construej ticn cf new routes, with or without | metalling. The trend nowadays is toj wards the improvement of those routes ; by widening, metalling, sealing, devi- | at ions, or overbridges, as the case may j be. These works require a large proj portion of labour and they result in j continually decreasing operating costs j for the motoring community. The GovI eminent has made special provision I for the metalling of the more remote j settlement roads, popularly termed i tho “backblock” roads, and the Pub* ] lie Works Statement will provide more , detail of the substantial progress | which has been made. | "After receiving certain aid from i revenue, last year’s net expenditure I from the vote for roads was £1.126,757. j and this year it is proposed to pro- ! vide £1,500,000. The expenditure from i all Government sources on works on main highways for the current year i is estimated at £5.037,200, compared with £4,031,728 for last year. Laud Settlement. “Good progress has been made with ! the establishment of selected workers j on small farms, while the native land 1 settlement activities, which include the j provision of new and better housing, I are proving a splendid aid in solving I the problem of settling the Maori in ! useful and productive work suited to | his abilities and temperament. The j Government has in hand a more active j and organised policy in regard to afI forestation, calling for substantially j more expenditure, estimated at j £640,000 for the year. ; “The total expenditure for the cur- | rent year on land settlement and de- | velopment is estimated to be : £3,081,500, of which £1,770,000 will j be from loans. £898.000 from the Emj ployment Promotion Fund. and | £413,500 from the disposal of produce. I Hvdro-elcctricity. i | “Hydro-electricity development is j expected tc involve much greater exi penditure this year than for some i years past, due mainly to the .necos--1 sity for extensions in the Arapuni ; area and further plant at Waitaki as j well as the additional hcadworks now iin hand near Lake Waikarernoana. | Tho accounts for the past year disI close a surplus of approximately j £390,000. after charging interest and j depreciation, and this surplus will be ■ applied to reduction of accumulated j losses and to sinking fund purposes. 1 Tiie gross revenue for the current ! year is estimated at £1,550.000 against j i: 1,450,000 for the previous year. Constructional expenditure is estimated at ; £ 1.192,00(1 this year, with S'. 364.000 for i working expenses, making a total ! iapart front interest >cf i - 1 .flhu.oou 11 jis anticipated that vviiitiuu will re I quire to bo borrowed in nn-el. this ex i penditiuv. tin- balance being found | from revenue The supply of eleetn j city bids fair in become in the near I future one of the most profitable of j the State’s commercial undertakings.’'