NEW VITALITY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19122, 17 September 1936, Page 15

NEW VITALITY

PUBLIC WORKS POLICY MINISTER’S AMBITIONS P"' • • « SVORK OP ECONOMIC VALUE '■VP?* MORE EFFICIENT METHODS ;;! ' ' • (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. S,ome criticism, of the previous Government in its attitude towards public Aybfits is voiced by tire Minister of Public Works, the Hon. E. Semple, in the'"departmental statement presented to’Parliament. The Minister expresses bis,anxiety to impart new life into the department and to embark on a comprehensive policy of works of economic value.

“Since I took control of the Public Works Department in December last my whole energies have been concentrated in endeavouring to revitalise the activities of this important department,” says the Minister. “On assuming office I found lucre was not in existence a policy which could be relied upon to give sulficient guidance to the head of the department and his staff" and Which was necessary if the department was to function in the most efficient and satisfactory wav. My effort has been to frame a policy such as I believe will ultimately result in clearly 'defining the system upon which the Government intends to carry out its public works, and which will give to the department that lead which it can rightly expect from the Minister in control. DEMORALISING METHODS. “I was quite prepared to find, owing to several years of financial depression, that there might not be a settled policy, and I make due allowance for such difficulties, but I was not prepared to find that the whole of the public-works activities had been converted into a system of relief for unemployment. .VWjth this end solely in view, methods of work had been adopted which were not only uneconomical but, to say the least of it, were highly demoralising to the men compelled to work under such conditions. It was a surprise to me that aftijr years of work under this system the staff and workmen of the department should have retained the will and energy to work, which I found still existed among them. “The whole position was most unsatisfactoryj and gave absolute no incentive to any one to give of his best. Neyr life needed to be infused into th(? workmen employed by the department.

AVln general, no exception could be taken to the value of the works upon which .they* were engaged. Some of {.hhai I did not approve of, and I did nbjf hesitate to stop them. Others I tfouJd have stopped had they not progressed too far to make it inadvisable to' do so; there were other, works which should obviously have been started and had not. The Government has gone carefully into the necessity or otherwise of such works, and; many of them have now been put in'baud. I venture to say that there is not one of them that’ will not be found to return some economic value t.d'tho State. PLANT AND MACHINERY “In an age when machinery is doing so much to relieve the burden of kard work, and to reduce expenditure in every direction, I could not agree to continue to carry out work by methods that involved the unnecessary expenditure of energy and increase in cost, such as is inherent in a system of work for the relief of unemployment only. “The engineers of my department ha\'c had to carry out a most unpleasant and distasteful duty in being asked to do work in such a way, and 1 am doing all I can to give them the plant and machinery that will enable them to undertake work in the way it should be carried out in this enlightened age. I have, of course, found it necessary to hold a balance between tho use of machinery and the employment of men who aro willing to work and cannot find work, and so far I have not found it necessary to diminish the number of men employed, but rather to keep them employed in a more useful way. “I could not, however, ask men to work industriously for the inadequate living-wage they were receiving when the present Government took control of public works. I decided that this state of affairs should not continue, and at the earliest possible moment issued a properly planned programme of the department’s activities, together with instructions that in future public works were to be undertaken as standard works, and that we were to depart from the relief system which had been followed for years past.

AGREEMENT WITH WORKERS. ‘/The first objective having been obtained, I then concluded an agreement with the New Zealand Workers’ Union covering all employees of the department. Under this agreement the men have been given the inducement to work—reasonable hours, good conditions, and fair wages. A fiveday week of 40 hours has been introduced on public works in New Zealand for the first time, and is proving entirely successful from, the point of view both of the department and of the men. ‘‘Living conditions on the works have been improved by the provision of better camp accommodation, for which no charge is being made. Wages have been substantially increased, and the men are now able to earn a decent living wage. In November;’ 1935, the average wage ,of work'll "on public works was 12s fid per day, whereas in June, 193 G, the aver’eW’ was 17s 9d per day. As far as ■possible the aim has been to secure uniformity of average wages in all districts, but climatic conditions and varying types of construction activity result in some differences in earnings. “I have stated elsewhere that 3 firmly believe in the co-operative contract system of working. This system has been in operation on public %.ofks for over 40 years, and I am convinced that it encourages the men to give of their best, because they are paid by results and know that they will be paid for what they earn. 3 | have instructed that this system is to ie continued at prices allowing men of t *

average ability working industriously to earn the daily rates of wages provided for in the agreement. ’The workmen are allowed to select their work-mates and t,o appoint their own headman.”