CAUSE OF DELAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26349, 2 January 1947, Page 4

CAUSE OF DELAY

RESTORATION OF HIGHWAYS ACUTE LABOUR SHORTAGE An explanation of the delay ih restoring and reconstructing highways in the south was given yesterday by Mr D. H. Cockburn, of Queenstown, counties’ representative on the Main Highways Board, in a statement to the Daily Times. “ I have noted,” Mr Cockburn said, “that there is a good deal of apprehension in certain circles, at present regarding the* amount of work, being carried out on the State and- main highways—in Otago in particular. This situation, I may state,; has also been causing me some thought. Discussions at the board table, however, reveal the fact that, great though the difficulties are throughout the Dominion in getting works through, those difficulties are definitely greater in southern districts. Owing, possibly, to the intensive nature of much of the farm work in the south as compared with the north, coupled with the absence of any Maori labour, which is of considerable assistance in the North Island, the position is definitely more acute in the south.

“ Though the board’s officers throughout are doing their best (and the same can unmistakeably be said for Otago), an alarmingly large amount of the work authorised will, it is obvious, be untouched at the'end of the working year,” Mr Cockburn added. "Lack of materials and machinery are also contributing factors, but the acute shortage of skilled and unskilled labour is the principal reason for the general hold-up. I can only assure those concerned that every effort is being made by the administrative staff, at the request of the Main Highways Board, to expedite regular maintenance—resealing, bridge-building and construction works wherever possible.”