PUBLIC WORKS POLICY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18518, 1 October 1923, Page 6

PUBLIC WORKS POLICY.

NO POLITICAL INFLUENCE, Alff/XJATION. OF VOTES. THE "AUTOMATIC" SYSTEM. [BY TELHGBAPH.—2'BESS ASSOCIATION-! ■ • WELLINGTON. Saturday. In an interview to-day the Minister for Public Works, Hon. J. G. Coates, said lis was very much averse to anything >in the nature of the interference of political considerations "';',. in his ;' Public Works : policy. He had already made marked : .. progress in, establishing systems: to prevent such happenings. ■,•;■;'/..7'.....■;". "/■-'■' ';/'■:; >•■"■ - The first step ,was the declaration. of his policy: to proceed with railway, hydroelectric, and ! irrigation works according to & definite programme based on the order of importance and urgency, and the concentration of expenditure (according to that programme. ; Next came the introduction of what id known in the department as the autoI matic system of allocating votes for roads ] and bridges to various Public Works disI tricts. The factors which determined tho j amounts for each district were area, population, rates collected, loan charges, milei age of open roads, cost of completing roads, (including allowance for accessii bility of metal and climatic conditions), I and value of undeveloped Crown and I native lands. This system was automatic | so far as concerned the provision of items I on the Estimates,: and each Public Works j district's total of items voted was as I nearly correct as could be ascertained under that system. ;■/ _-■' m The next-step was the introduction ana passing: of the Main Highways Act which created a main highways fund and reposed in the Main Highways Board, which has absolute powers free of all possibility of political intervention, the control of all works and finance in respect, of all roads j which the board declares to be main. highways. This scheme may involve an annual expenditure of approximately £1,000,000, an amount which will doubtless increase as the reserved sources of income to the fund naturally expand There still remained the very real difficulty in regard to roads and bridges votes when it came to authorising the expenditure o:t individual items. A reference to the Estimates would show that while tho total of various individual * votes was £1,613,000 the < actual cash appropriations provided by Parliament were only £984,000, or 60 per cent, of the total or the votes in ca.=h. • Appropriation was of course the limit of actual expenditure daring the financial year and it followed that it was quite ! impossible to authorise : every individual ! vote for expenditure. If this were done it would mean either that the cash appro--1 priation 'would be over oxpended or alternatively that the most irritating checking , and restriction of the work would have to be practised to avoid :; over-expending. The only practical expedient was the one i which had been followed, namely, restricting authorisations. It was necessary in order that an expenditure reasonably approximating cash appropriation mignt be obtained to fix a limit to the authorisations but this limit must be in excess on the cash appropriation. ; The cash appropriation was ; £984.860 and "the Minister had fixed the limit of authorisations durfcg the financial year at £1,400,000. This meant, assuming the actual expenditure up to March 31 to be; *?actlv regulated to the cash appropriation, of £984,860 thafi on April 1 there would be carried forward •■ a liability against the fund ,of ' in the shape of tie unexpended balances "of authorities. '