WHERE IS THE MONEY SPENT?

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13285, 18 September 1906, Page 4

WHERE IS THE MONEY SPENT?

Anyone who peruses the Estimates in order to find out where the Public Works money goes to becomes 110 wiser than he was before. It is impossible to ascertain in what districts the money is to be spent, there being no indication in the item of any locality. We have " So-and-so Road" without any explanation of where the road is, whether it is in Southland, Hawke's' Bay, or the North ol Auckland. Nobody will blame the present Administration for this indefinitcness, if it takes "steps to rectify Jthe matter, for the j system has remained unaltered from j I lie days when there were very few {roads and when it was easy for ! members to derive information from ! one another.. Withpthe immense j mass St' items noiv hi' the Estimates i it is impossible to I "obtain this inforI mation excepting from the Estimates ! themselves. The name of the county, | in which the work in question is ! situated ought to be printed with j each item, so that not only members ' of Parliament but all those citizens i who are interested enough in the 1 matter to look it up may know whereabouts public money is being expended. We hope that Sir Joseph Ward, as Premier, and Mr. Hall-Jones, as Minister for Public Works, will introduce this little but' | very necessary reform next session. If it is true that no districts of the colony are being unduly favoured in the Public Works allocations, this j would - demonstrate the mistake of many critics ; and if districts arc being unduly favoured, we suppose there can be no objection to letting the public know it. In either case, the public has a right to know where the public money is being spent.