NO APOLOGIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23500, 14 May 1938, Page 14

NO APOLOGIES

PUBLIC WORKS EXPENDITURE MR SEMPLE’S PROGRAMME LAST GOVERNMENT’S LEGACY (Per United Press Association) HAMILTON. May 13. The Minister of Public Works (Mr R. Semple), in defence of the Government’s policy and in explanation of the work carried out fay the departments under his control, faced a large and enthusiastic crowd at Morrinsville last evening. The Minister explained that when he came into office he took over the control from an organisation called the Co-ordination Board, and thus saved the country £3OOO annually. He could honestly say he had not squandered a penny of the people’s money. The last Government spent £8,000,000 in railways which they did not finish. The part of the line they completed at Dargaville, in the former Minister of Finance’s own district, cost £450,000. It would have cost £600,000 more to finish the whole job, but they stopped it, and it was no use to anyone. They also spent £120,000 on the famous balloon loop, which went to nowhere, and then came back again. The last Government wondered whether it should have started the works, and set up a board to advise it on the mafter. continued Mr Semple. On the advice of that board it stopped the work, and with the closing of the job at Waikokopu, men and families were left for as long as two years on the site of the job. On another job the tools were thrown into the Buller River, and could be seen to-day. Thropgh these methods the last Government committed such acts of extravagance as this country never previously had seen. They paid 3£ per cent, on £8,000.000 and were still paying it, and all they gave was a mass of rust and ruin. He described the result of the work of the last Government on the Mohaka viaduct as another example of wrack and ruin. The Labour Government had tackled these jobs, and carried them through. “Under the last Government the methods of public works were the most stupid comic opeia procedures I have ever seen, and all this was done by the man who recently told you that you needed prudent finance. We do not spend money for the good of.our health and we do not spend just for the fun of it. While transport and other problems are, however, facing the country, any rational man wni do all he can to remove them as soon as possible, and that is what we are doing. Certainly we spent £1.000,000 on aerodromes, but it must be realised that the growth of the flying machine brought many problems to be solved. To compete with other nations we must have an up-to-date commercial and military air service. Up to the time we came into office £600,000 had seen spent on aerodromes under the old comic opera, wasteful methods, but I -could have done the same job for £200,000. We found wheelbarrows, crowbars, picks, shovels, and halfstarved workmen—the methods by which the Pyramids were built. W* have attempted to synchronise human labour and machine labour. r : ving the machine the hard work to do. I hgve introduced these methods into aerodrome construction and apologise to no one for it.