PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 17 November 1937, Page 8

PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT

EXPENDITURE FOR 1937-1938 OUTLINED BY MINISTER NEW RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION £1,108,000: IMPROVEMENTS AND ADDITIONS £2,203,000 £4,165,000 FOR HIGHWAYS AND ROADS (From Our Own Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON. This Day. The Public Works Statement presented in the House of Representatives yesterday by the Hon. R. Semple showed that the largest item is £4,165,000 for main highways, while £3,311,000 will be expended on railways—£l,loß,ooo for new construction and £2,203,456 on improvements and additions to opened lines. The Statement, inter alia, was as follows:

As indicated in my Statement to Parliament last year, a policy of expansion of public works has been followed by the Government wherever it was possible to obtain sufficient economic value to justify the work undertaken. It is the endeavour of the Department to carry out public works to a standard commensurate with the importance, and particularly is this so with works which have a substantial economic value, but from the very fact that certain works will only reach their full value in the future it is the poliiy of the Department to maintain the same high standard with these works. I have travelled with and spoken to many visitors from overseas, including Ministers of the Crown from other British Domiinions, and all have expressed their surprise at the advanced state of our roading-system in this country, and this can truthfully be said also of other works under the control of the Public Works Department. I have made it my duty to visit all important works that were in progress during the year. I have spoken to the workmen wherever I have gone and impressed upon them the fact that the Government expects them to give a fair day’s work for the wages they are receiving. I am prepared to admit that on many works the men are earning high wages, but I am satisfied that, wherever work is carried out on the cooperative contract system, the State is getting good value for its expenditure. The men on every class of construction have improved wonderfully in skill and in output of work during the year, and now they are an army of men the cation can be proud of. I have not, however, contented myself with consideration only for the aarnings of the men. I have also given i great deal of thought to the social side of their welfare. Social amenities n the way of entertainment-halls, lijraries, canteens, etc., have been provided. Apart from the help I have revived from the Department’s engineers, I wish to place on record the ;reat assistance I have received from he New Zealand Workers’ Union and he Y.M.C.A. in these matters. The agreement made with the New Zealand Workers’ Union, to which I reerred in my last year’s Statement, has esulted in practically all disputes about vork and working conditions beng settled locally. The compara;ively few disputes referred to me have been settled expeditiously, with the co-operation of the union officials in Wellington, and the interests of the Government as well as the men have been equitably conserved. When workmen have ceased work in an unconstitutional manner the matter has been promptly and effectively dealt with. It must be remembered, and I hope appreciated, that my Department was faced with the difficulty of organising a team of workmen from the army of unemployed of this country. Many of them had had their capacity for work destroyed during the depression years, while hundreds of other younger men had never learnt to work. In spite of these difficulties wonderful progress has been made. An instance showing how it was possible to train men to special work within a short time was the erection of the Mohaka Viaduct on the East Coast Ma : i Trunk Railway in record time.

unemployed at tlie present time I have adhered to the former procedure even though some sacrifice has been made to speed in completing the work. In other classes of work again the use of manual labour would be distinctly uneconomical, and only machinery is jostifiable if the work is to be done at all. An example of this class of work is the formation of flying-fields for aerodromes. As an instance, the estimate to form an aerodrome at Nelson under the-old system of utilising the unemployed on relief work was £172.000. By machinery the work was estimated to cost £36.000, and a contract was actually let for this amount. Under the manual methods of work on the aerodromes completed within the last few years the cost has been something like £600,000, whereas by the use of modern excavating plant entirely they should have been completed for approximately £200,000. There are practically no construction works, of course, that do not obtain some benefit from the use of mechanical plant, but nuVy can be done quite economically with a small quantity of plant to supplement hand labour, and where this can be done the Department has been asked to follow this method in the meantime. Many instances of considerable saving in cost of construction can be supplied to honourable members, and indications of some of these savings are given elsewhere in this Statement. As stated above, the Department has spent fairly large amounts in the purchase of machinery, but, notwithstanding this, it has been able to increase the number of men employed from 13,696 when the present Government took office to a maximum of 20,100 during last summer, and the number now employed is approximately 19,000. In travelling about New Zealand it has been apparent to me that the Department’s men are employed on works that will help to restore the country to a full measure of prosperity. It Has also been apparent that there is room for extension in some directions. While I am convinced that we are catching up rapidly on our main-highway and railway systems, I feel sure that more could be done towards the metallinjg of our backblocks roads. I have asked the Engineer-in-Chief to prepare a fiveyear plan for metalling these roads, and an estimated cost of completely metalling all roads used for the transporting of our primary products. Side by side with this programme there must, of course, be a continued improvement in main highways to keep pace with the growing traffic from these country roads. For this reason, and because of the ever-increasing motor-ve-hicle traffic, and the apparent inability of local authorities to cope with it, 4,000 miles of highways were last year taken over by the Main Highways Board and made State Highways.

During the transition period arising from the foregoing circumstances, it became apparent that a small section ot local body opinion was still antagonistic towards the changes introduced Complaints were made, in some cases publicly, that since the change-over the condition of State highways had noticeably deteriorated. In not a few instances anonymous criticism was directed against the Government’s policy, but it was evident that this type of opposition was engendered in order to imply that conditions were quite different from the actual state of affairs. Investigations which were made in a number of cases showed that the complaints were exaggerated, and generally related to lengths of highway which were in process of reconstruction. It is usually recognised that while a road is being improved some inconvenience and delay must be expected, and this state of affairs is unavoidable because any disturbance of a road surface, necessitated by widening, regrading, realignment, or drainage operations, temporarily produces uncomfortable travelling conditions, but this does not justify hasty criticism. Perhaps the most reliable judgment as to road conditions is to be found in the opinions expressed by bodies specially organised to watch the interests of the motoring public. These bodies have indicated that the general conditions of State highways are being materially improved, and have given their approbation to the change in policy I am confident, however, that before very long, when the more extensive works now in hand are developed, and the departmental maintenance organisations are fully developed, the present unreasonable criticisms will totally disappear. 40 PER CENT. FROM REVENUE This year a sum of £1.150.000 will be provided from the Consolidated Fund Cor expenditure on maintenance of public works and services. The expenditure from Main Highways revenue will be £2.572.000; from the Electric Supply Account £745,000; whilst £567,500 will be made available from general revenue. Of the total expenditure under my control out of the Public Works Fund and other accounts of £9,799,000, a sum of £5.864,500 will therefore be provided from revenue, representing approximately 40 per -cent. LOAN EXPENDITURE The proposed expenditure from loan moneys on public works for 1937-38. as indicated in the Public Works estimates, is as follows: (1) Construction and improvement of lines of communication— Railways—- £ Construction of new lines ... 1,108,000 Improvements and additions to opened lines 2,203,457 Highways and settlement roads— Construction and improvement of highways 1,906,000 Construction and improve-

and considerably below the estimated cost. The erectors on this work were young men trained on the job. They were paid high wages as an encouragement to work, and they more than earned the increased rate of pay. This is just an example of what is occurring all over the Dominion on public works. Improved accommodation for workmen has now been provided everywhere: married men have well-built three-room accommodation, and all camps are well provided with adequate drainage schemes and water-supplies. The Y.M.C.A. is providing recreation and amusement in all large camps. It is doing this work well, and is of great assistance to the Department’s staff. In order to make living conditions more attractive in the isolated places where most of the camps are, I have arranged for the Y.M.C.A. to sell radio sets on very easy terms to the workmen. The Department takes no direct action in the matter, but allows the Y.M.C.A. to obtain quotations for the sets through the Radio Traders’ Federation and sell to the workmen under a hire-purchase system. . As an appendix to this Statement, honourable members will find a copy of the agreement between the National Council of the Y.M.C.A. and myself covering the whole procedure. USE OF MACHINERY I gave an indication Jn last year’s Statement that the policy of the Department would be to a large extent to expedite and lessen the cost of public works by the use of machinery. This has been done, and a sum of approximately £500,000 has been spent on modern plant for our works. This expenditure appears large, but the Department had no equipment to start with. When I tell honourable members that the Department has nearly twelve hundred works in hand requiring some type of plant, the disadvantages under which it was working can be realised. I have not endeavoured to replace men by machinery where it cannot be shown that a substantial saving will result, but rather to preserve the balance between speed and economy. There are many classes of work which can be carried out almost as economically by manual labour, supplemented by a small amount of mechanical plant, as they can be entirely by machinery, and in order not to increase the number of

ment of roads 966.000 Harbour works and lighthouses 35.001) Telegraphs and telephones 750.000 (2) Land development - Land improvement 156,500 Irrigation 105,000 Swamp land drainage 23,000 Settlement, of unemployed workers 300.000 Native land set!lenient 250.000 Dairy industry loans 30.000 1 3 > Development of electric power: Hydro-electric supply development 700.000 141 Public buildings - Schools 550.000 Postal buildings 365.000 Mental Hospital buildings 160.000 Air Defence buildings 210,000 Other buildings (departmental. Justice, Police. Health. Agriculture, etc.) 404.000 (5» Development of tourist resorts 3.9,000 (6) Departmental supervision 180.000 £10.440.957 The greatest item of expenditure this year will be on main highways. This is £4.165,200, of which £1,906.000 will be from loan money. It was desirable in the interests of the whclc community that as many men as possible should be placed in full employment after long years of unemment. Improvement of main highways to meet the demands and safety of increasing traffic offered a ready and justifiable means for the purpose of returning men to full-time useful employment. The undue loss of life and the number of personal injuries arising from road traffic made it necessary to render main highways safer for all classes of road-user. There is ample scope for activity in this direction, and my efforts to prevent daily tragic happenings on our public thoroughfares will not be relaxed until everything possible lias been done to provide that standard of construction and maintenance on main highways which will ensure safety for everybody. In my last Statement I referred to an extensive programme for the elimination of danger railway level-cross-ings. and to the desire of the Government to expedite this work. Notwithstanding the difficulties encountered in finding the best solutions to the problems arising from widely varying conditions, I am gratified to be able to say that very satisfactory progress, as indicated laler in my Statement, lias been made.

A large amount of money is being expended in many ways upon the improvement of main highways, but a tremendous amount of beneficial work is being done, and I feel sure that the results are being appreciated by the people as a whole I wish to take this opportunity of'expressing my deep appreciation of the good work that is being done by the Main Highways Board, and the valuable assistance it is giving to the Government 2860 MEN ON RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION A vote of £1.108.000 is asked for this year for the prosecution of the Government’s railway construction programme Particularly good progress has been made on railway works with the modern excavation plant now in use. A total of 2,800 men is now engaged on railway construction. The Napier-Putorino section of the East Coast Main Trunk Railway, which was damaged badly by the 1931 earthquake, has been completed and handed over to the Railways Department ahead of the anticipated time. Goods traffic is now running to Wairoa from Putorino over the section of line still retained .by the Public Works Department. Owing to delays in delivery of steel end other materials the completion of this, as well as many other works, is being unduly delayed. The formation work on the line from Wairoa to Gisborne, is well ahead, but the tunnels are the deciding factor in the completion of the line. There was some delay in pbtaining plant for the tunnels owing to slow deliveries from England, but all plant is now installed. There are nearly four miles of tunnel to be constructed. On the South Island Main Trunk and Westport-Inangahua Railways particularly good progress is being made. Tunnelling on the former railway is again the key to the rate of progress, but all this work is now well equipped with modern tunnelling plant.

ROADS OTHER THAN MAIN HIGHWAYS A sum of £966,000 is proposed for expenditure on roads other than main highways for the current year. As I have said, I should like to extend a policy of completing metalled roads to all primary producers throughout the country. I have very definite ideas concerning the improvement of settlement roads, and I wish to make it clear that I do not intend these roads to be built to the standard of our main roads. The traffic they are asked to carry does not warrant this. I am decidedly of the opinion, however, that, before they are metalled, alignment and curvature should be laid out so that these roads can be progressively improved as the traffic increases. It is essential that once a road has been built to serve any district, it should be regularly and properly maintained. Too frequently a good road has been allowed to go back, and almost disappear through neglect. I look to local authorities to do their part in the upkeep of improved rural roads upon which the Government spends money. It has not yet been found possible to make any very drastic alteration in the existing procedure in relation to hydro-electric development. During my visit to Australia, and at other times, I have given considerable attention to this important feature of the Government’s activities, and as opportunity offers I hope to be able to effect improvements in the general organisation of the electric-supply business. As indicated in my Statement of last year, work on a proposed development at Waikaremoana was stopped, and detailed investigations are being made on alternative proposals in this locality. Following on the acquisition by the Government of the electrical works of the Southland Electric Power Board, arrangements have been made with other local authorities by which their local generating-works have either been taken over by the Government, or by which the local works have been closed down or retained merely as standby plants whilst the whole of the local power requirements arp being supplied from the State system. The various State hydro-electric schemes continue to show an improving financial position, and with increasing demands the position should still further improve. The revenue of the Electric Supply Account has grown to £1,216,468 this year, and a continued increase is anticipated.

Last year it was anticipated that a greatly accelerated programme of erection of public buildings would take place, but owing to scarcity of skilled labour and structural steel it lias not been possible to maintain the rate of progress expected. These factors have already proved a source of considerable delay in the building programme. The Department is now in a position to call lenders for public buildings to the amount of £250,000, but is awaiting the investigation in to the whole question of the order of precedence in building. Willi the increase in commercial air services and the requirements of air defence, the Department has been exceedingly busy during the year on the construction of aerodromes and flic preparation of plans for air defence. As will be seen under the section of this Statement headed “Aerodromes,” there has been rapid progress in air services, and the building of a chain of emergency landing-grounds necessary to render these services safe lias received particular attention during the year. The money for aerodrome-construction Is now provided from the Consolidated Fund, with a considerable amount cf assistance from Employment Relief Funds. It is hoped to make even more progress on aerodromes during the coming year, and a sum of £320.000 is being provided from revenue for this purpose. Irrigation, which in the past has been mostly confined to the arid regions of Central Otago, is now making good progress on the plains of Canterbury. One scheme there is completed, and two others are in course of construction. Investigations into the possibilities of this class of public work arc still being exhaustively pursued. I am still convinced that this is one of the best classes of work from which the country will benefit. RIVER CONTROL

Among the problems facing the Dominion is that of river-control and river-maintenancc, and 1 have given a good deal of thought and attention lo this. Major works of river-control and flood protection have to be largely justified on economic grounds. Works of this class have been carried out in the past by the Stale and also by local authorities, the provision of finance generally being adjusted to the needs of each case. The matter of river-maintenance and the prevention of deterioration of stream-channels, and of destruction of valuable land, is a more difficult problem, in that existing legislation regards such work as largely a local responsibility. The Department has had this matter under careful examination, and a comprehensive statement on the problem has been prepared. In my opinion, the time has arrived when the State should, to a much greater extent, assume tiie direction of this class of work. Work would be done in collaboration with a local authority, or with the settlers of the area affected, and finance would have to be arranged to suit each particular case. One difficulty in respect to this class of work is the large number of small local authorities in any particular area dealing with river and drainage matters, and the question of merging these is one that must receive the serious attention of the Government. The whole question of river-control and river-maintenance policy is now under review by Cabinet. I can anticipate next year’s Public Works Statement with the information that the Government has just authorised the immediate putting-in-hand of riverimprovement and willow-removal works in the Waipa Basin of the Waikato River, and in the Hoteo Valley in Rodney County. Both these works are major ones, and the need for them has been apparent for some time. The use of mechanical plant, modified as I have already stated by a consideration for employment of men, has been extended during the year. With the exception of that still needed for the new State highways and for renewals, most of the plant immediately required has now been purchased. Works of a special nature will, of course, still necessitate the use of suitably designed plant, and some provision for this will be made. Since I presented my last Statement, more than sufficient time has elapsed to enable me to say with confidence that the Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department and his staff have made wonderful progress with the Government's programme of public works. Severely handicapped for want of trained staff, by lack of materials, by scarcity of up-to-date plant and skilled workmen, it is remarkable that in so short a time such an efficient organisation as the Public Works Department now is should have been created, and as Minister in Charge I am proud of what has been done. I am grateful to the Department’s officers for the energy and willingness they have displayed in carrying out the Government’s intentions with regard to public works.

FINANCE The payments and receipts for the year 1936-37, and accumulated totals, in connection with the Public Works Fund and other associated votes and accounts are shown in the tabulation belowe The gross expenditure amounted to £12.261,215, of which £2,009,881 was expended by other Government Departments; the recoveries in reduction of expenditure amounted to £2,288,639, of which £846,300 was recovered by other Departments; the net expenditure totalled £9,972,576, of which £1,163.581 was expended by other Departments. In addition the Department collected £1,199,589 from sales of electricity and from other forms of revenue.