P.W.D. REORGANISATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 13 April 1945, Page 4

P.W.D. REORGANISATION

AT first sight the reorganisation of Public Works Department districts may look like a negation of the Government’s professed policy of decentralisation. Thirteen districts will be lumped into seven, Nelson becoming what might be regarded as simply an appendage of Wellington. The provincial centres do not relish sinking their identity in this way even if it involves little more than a change of name and the machinery of administration. It is understood, however, that the regrouping means the formation of regions of substantial size having more powers of selfdetermination than now possessed by district offices which have been, to a large extent, clearing grounds for recommendations to Head Office. If this turns out to be the case a measure of decentralisation as within the larger groups may come about, but it would appear that a more logical division for the northern part of the South Island would have been a region embracing all that territory north of the Canterbury Public Works district. It is hard to see what community of regional developmental interest exists between Wanganui and Nelson, for instance, yet both are grouped in the new Wellington district. As two of the advantages of the reorganisation Mr Semple cites a higher degree of efficiency and a decrease in overhead costs. Possible off-setting disadvantages could be neglect of those districts on the fringes of the newly-constituted regions and the concentration of staff at regional headquarters with the consequent risk of a restricted view of needs. There is always a tendency for services rendered to be in inverse ratio to the distance from the place where decisions or recommendations are made. None of these things, of course, may happen. The reduction in status of Nelson on the P.W.D. chart, for example, may be a . machinery change in administration only and we may continue to have the same-sized staff, the same share of equipment and the same quality of service as at present. But there are some major decisions to be taken about new developmental works in Nelson soon; the regional committees set up under the O.N.D. have been asked to formulate programmes and it is to be hoped that the reorganised Works Department will be a fit instrument to take notice of their recommendations. As far as the provinces are concerned the new set-up will be judged by its capacity to cater for their legitimate expansionist needs even better than has been done hitherto.