NEW DESIGNATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24049, 21 August 1941, Page 11

NEW DESIGNATION

PUBLIC WORKS DEVELOPMENT LOANS BILL GOVERNMENT'S OBJECTIVE (S.R.) WELLINGTON. Wednesday ''The purpose of the bill is the proper accounting of all the moneys borrowed by the Dominion for its development and the correct recording for this House and for the country of the borrowing and expenditure," said the actingPrime Minister, the Hon. W. Nash, when moving the second reading of the National Development Loans Bill in the House to-night. Mr. Nash said that the bill brought into prominence a new phase through which the development of the country was passing. About 1920 the country ran out of the public works phase' associated with roads and bridges. It was then that hydro-electric development started, but this development, with State mines, State forests and other undertakings, was still designated as public works. "Gutting OH a Corner" Mr. W. J. Poison (Opposition—Stratford) : There is nothing wrong with the designation. Mr. Nash said the impression was that the expenditure of £20,000,000 on public works meant the expenditure of that sum on cutting off a corner. An Opposition Member: This is an attempt to get back at the Opposition again, then. Mr. Nash: It is calling the bluff of members of the Opposition and the press in the propaganda they have been putting over for years. One Loan Authority Mr. Nash added that it was known that £20,000,000 for public works meant money for housing, small farms, hydro-electric development, State forests, irrigation schemes, post and telegraph expansion and other undertakings. Some expenditure on public works, such as roads, bridges and railways, was still necessary and that expenditure would be clearly shown, as would expenditure on other national development works. The bill provided for some alteration to accountancy procedure, said the Minister. It was proposed to take * one authority instead of several to borrow all the money required for the National Development Account. This would result in a saving of interest, as there would be only one balance, instead of several, which could not be used except for the specific purposes for which thev were created. SMALL FARM BLOCKS COSTS TO £159 AN ACRE MR. BROADFOOT'S CHARGE c WELLINGTON, Wednesday If ever a Royal Commission was required in this country it is needed to search into the facts and figures and results in connection with this scheme " said Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (Opposition Waitomo), when criticising the cost of developing small farm blocks during the second reading debate National Development Loans Bill in the House of Representatives to-night. "The costs disclosed are tragic and disclose ineptitude and inefficiency in method, and a total disregard of responsibility in spending public funds," he said, after tracing the expenditure on nine blocks. In these nine cases, said Mr. Broadfoot, a total of £284,902 had been spent in wage subsidies from the Unemployment Fund, .equal to £32 for every acre developed in addition to the huge capital expenditure. These were official figures placed on the table of the House by the Minister of Lands. National development this year would involve £20,615,000. comprising £12.950,000 raised by loan and £7,665,000 from revenue, and land development and settlement would entail an expenditure of £2,140,000. It was absolutely impossible to ascertain from the reports of the Lands and Public Works Departments the actual costs of developing any particular block. The lack of detail was reprehensible. A return tabled in July. 1940, however, made it possible roughly to ascertain the cost of development of small farms blocks to December 31, 1939. Mr. Broadfoot said that although the early settlers had been promised titles, none had received them. The cost of development went as high as £159 an acre in one case and the costs generally were tragically high. A defence of the Government land settlement policy, with particular reference to the small farms scheme, was made by the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb. He said a great deal of the money the Government had spent in the Waitomo electorate had gone into making a farming paradise out of scrub and blackberry. Mr. W. J. Poison (Opposition— Stratford): At £l5O an acre. Mr. Webb asked whether the member for Waitomo would rather see men working on lands development than on the dole. Only 4000 men were engaged on scheme 48, which had been a boon to struggling farmers. NEW ZEALAND TIMBER THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY (S.R.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday Approximately 102,637 superficial feet of timber was used in the construction of the new buildings which will house other Government departments as well as IZB, and of this 91,200 superficial feet was New Zealand timber," said the Minister in charge of broadcasting, the Hon. W. Nash, in the House today, when replying to a question concerning the use of Australian timber in the new IZB building at Auckland. Mr. Nash added that the remainder, 11,437 superficial feet, was Queensland maple and jarrah. The building was constructed to pre-war specifications. It was the Government's policy to use New Zealand materials to the fullest possible extent.