THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1908. ESTIMATE AND SPENDING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13868, 30 September 1908, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1908. ESTIMATE AND SPENDING.

The debate in the House of Representatives upon the formal motion to go into . Committee of Supply circled round the fact that the Government not only constructs,'the Public Works Estimates, but spends or, does nob spend much as it pleases. This most objectionable feature of a form of administration which is termed " democratic," has been repeatedly exposed by the Heralo, but we do not imagine that it will be abolished until the public becomes much more watchful than itis at present of the doing of Parliament and Government. In the North of Auckland, for example, some good citizens are disposed to congratulate themselves upon the placing of £80,000 upon the Estimates for the extension of the Northern Main Trunk. But, as .Mr. Massey pointed out to the House, £20,000 was placed on the Estimates, in .1907, for the Rotorua-Gis-borne, of which amount only £9200 —less than one-half—was expended. His contention' that Parliament had ho real knowledge of what was done wit!h money voted," evoked a feeble reply from Mr. Fowlds, whose views upon the corruption of our public works system appear to have undergone a radical transformation since his elevation to the Ministry, although it cannot be contended that Auckland Province has any reason to accept the same conversion. Our Minister for Education, who could imperil an Education Bill rather than agree to lighten parental burdens* by/ accepting a, jiuiforia

school book : clause, : actually took umbrage at Mr- Massey's assertion that " Parliament had lost control of the purse," although he had himself made quite similar charges during his private membership, and had repeatedly told us, here in Auckland, that the only solution he could see was some revival of the provincial bodies for public works purposes.'' />..'. _ > '

Sir Joseph Ward was always good at figures, 'and speedily proved to the satisfaction of those who wished to be convinced, that the Government was doing all that it had promised and more than could be expected. \ Auckland, in particular, he declared to have no cause for complaint, which opened the way for Mr. Hall-Jones to point out that next year the Government would be able to decide whether further railway construction should be prosecuted on the East Coast or on the Otago Central. That the East Coast would open up millions of acres, provide room for thousands of settlers, contribute enormously to the national expansion and to the public revenues, evidently does not count with our ideal Government beside the passion for spending money in the South. Auckland is the largest province of the group, and offers the greatest opportunity for expansion because it is the least developed and the most easily occupyable. Yet at the present time the. only railway construction going on in this great province is on three petty constructions, which together did not receive as much money last year as the Otago Central, and this year are financially overshadowed by the Otira tunnel. If we had roads we might not have such spirit to complain, but when we descend from flights of Ministerial fancy to hard facts we find that the promised assignment of £250,000 yearly, for four years, towards roading the back blocks, contracted even on the Estimates to £75,000. That is \to say, the proposed votes for roads during 1908-9 exceed the votes for roads in 1907-8, not by a-quarter of a million, but by £75,000 only. That this will not all be spent is morally certain, and it is doubtful if our; settlers will benefit by as much as an additional £50,000, or less than half of the amount which will have to be spent during the time on boring the railway tunnel to connect Canterbury with Westland. The chief point of the much-talked-of £250,000 for "roading the back blocks " is apparently that it will make a good electioneering cry for attracting country votes, and this at the minimum of cost to the- public purse, which the Government has got into the habit of regarding and treating as its own.