PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21273, 29 August 1932, Page 8

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

The opinion of the Fukekohe Chamber of Commerce that public works should be carried out by contract will receive wide endorsement. It has been made very clear indeed that construction by the department has been much too costly. Rarely has there been any competitive tendering to check extravagant methods, but the record of expenditure leaves no doubt that much money has been wasted. One factor has been that of political distribution of grants for which the department's administrative branch is in no degree responsible. On the other hand, it must accept the blame for methods which have not given an adequate return for much of the expenditure. The department is top-heavy in relation to the country's resources. In 1913 it had a classified staff of 757, whose total salaries amounted to £243,707. For the year ended March 31 last figures as to staff are not available, but the salary list was £224,070 after deducting £24,896 represented by the 10 per cent salary reduction. This, however, was by no means the total salary bill. In 1931 there were no less than 627 temporary employees other than workmen. The number included 65 male clerks, 92 typists, 75 draftsmen, 17 engineers, 61 engineers' assistants, 69 overseers and 238 employees vaguely described as "miscellaneous." Owing to the cessation of the borrowing policy the department is spending very much less than it did two years ago, and many of its workmen have had to be discharged and the rest put on a low rate of wages, but so far there have been no signs of retrenchment on the administrative side. A staff out of all proportion to the needs and

the country's capacity to pay is being carried. The Public Service Commissioner recently defended the departments from the charges associated with bureaucracy, but from his own figures it is plainly evident that in New Zealand as in Britain bureaucracy is resisting with success economy in the form of retrenchment. The Public Works Department may be likened to the Admiralty, which had a larger staff after the war than during it. It is the old story of officialdom exploiting the taxpayer. In good times there is a rush through the magic door to the "steady government job" ; in bad times it seems impossible to open the door to displace even those for whom there is no longer sufficient work. Under present circumstances this vast Public Works staff cannot possibly be justified, and the taxpayer cannot continue to pay for it. If a policy of private tendering were adopted it could be reduced very substantially, with the further great advantage of lower construction costs.