THE STATE AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20450, 3 July 1928, Page 8

THE STATE AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

It is not difficult to sympathise with the Dunedin Builders and Contractors’ Union of Employers in the protest which it has addressed to the Minister of Public Works on the subject of the construction of the foundations of the new Post Office for this city. If, as has been assumed, it is the intention of the Department to carry out this worn itself by day labour the feeling,

of grievance entertained by the local builders and contractors is perfectly intelligible. There has been only too much in these days of State interference with private industry, and here, apparently, is another illustration in point. Why the construction of the foundations of the new Post Office should oe differentiated from that of the building itself —for the erection of which tenders will presumably be invited —is not at all clear. It may be, of course, that the Government has an idea of providing work for the unemployed, but, as the builders and contractors point out, just as much labour would be absorbed in the construction of the foundations by private contract as can be utilised by the Department itself. And if the Department is swayed by the consideration that economies would be effected by undertaking the work itself, that conclusion is at least open to question, inasmuch as the unemployed consist of all sorts and conditions of men, not a large proportion of whom would be fitted for this particular class of labour. Not by these means, therefore, could it be hoped to have the work carried out on really economic lines. It might easily prove more costly in the long run if done under departmental supervision by men who are not skilled artisans than if it were executed by contract on the part of a tendering firm. There is no question of the ability of local builders to perform the work" satisfactorily. They are able to point to their achievements in the entire construction of important buildings in this city, and it is fair to suggest that they are entitled to be afforded the opportunity to undertake the work of constructing from bottom to top the new Post Office that is to be. .It is difficult, indeed, to imagine the reasons which lead the Public Works Department to suppose that any advantage is to be derived from itself undertaking a work of a kind that has not been regarded in the past as coming within its province and from withholding the work from firms that have years of experience to their credit and can command the services of numbers of capable workmen. A decision to contract the foundations under departmental supervision will, it is to be feared, simply mean that the work will take a longer time and cost more than if it is let by contract to members of the building trade.