'ECONOMIC POLICY'

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19442, 29 September 1937, Page 8

'ECONOMIC POLICY'

£17,367,000 IN YEAR LONG-RANGE PROPOSALS BETTER PUBLIC BUILDINGS ROADING ACTIVITY PROVISION OF FINANCE (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Government's public works and development programme, including maintenance of highways and certain other items of a revenue nature, requires provision for an estimated sum this financial year of £17,367,000, as follows: — £ Railway construction and improvements 4,295,000 Highways and roads 5,708,000 Public buildings 1,689,000 fivdro-electric development 1.445,000 'Small-farms settlement .... 450.000 Telegraph extensions 750,000 Native-lands settlement . t;77,000 State-forests development . 475,000 Lands development and improvements 825.000 Other works (aerodromes, plant and material, etc. 1,053,000 £17,367.000 Dealing with the financing of the programme, the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, in his Budget the Hon. W. Nash, in his Budget speech in the House of Representatives last night stated that it. was estimated that balances carried forward on April 1 last, together with amounts received for investment from the Post Office Savings Bank and other departmental sources, would be sufficient to provide all that was required for this programme, but so long as there were men or machines able, to carry out the work, and the necessary materials were available, the Government would not allow any necessary job to be held up for want of money. "The Government's policy," he added, "is to obtain the maximum utilisation of the available, production resources of the Dominion, and if the existing volume of credit is insufficient or not utilised to this end, further credit as required will be made available. Work by Local Bodies "In addition to public works executed by the Government, a considerable number are carried out by local authorities with or without Government financial assistance, but during the past seven or eight years the portion, both absolute and relative, of the cost of public works borne directly by the local ratepayer has diminished very considerably. "An analysis of the incidence of the burden of "the estimated annual road bill, for example, shows that in 1928-29 the amount provided from local rates was £1,616,000, or 29 per cent of the total on all except urban roads, while in 1935-36 it was £1,360,000. or 22 per cent of the total. "The Government is of opinion that a substantial measure of planning is a necessary implication of an ea> nomic public works policy. Planning has therefore been undertaken first to select the most desirable works having regard to the localities where labour is available and second to initiate a long-range programme designed lo carry out necessary works, and to utilise the available supply of skilled and unskilled labour to the greatest advantage.

Railway Construction "On railway-construction last year the expenditure was £587,000, principally on the Gisborne-Napier extension, the South Island Main Trunk connection, and the Westport to Inangahua length. A total of £1,060,000 has been allocated for expenditure in this category during the current financial year. The urgent need of more rolling-stock and the putting in hand of deviation and duplication works on the more heavily trafficked lengths is covered by the programme for the current year amounting to £3,235,000. "Public buildings is a means whereby a substantial amount of expenditure can bo made usefully and economically. The relative inactivity of recent years in the construction of public buildings has resulted in an acute shortage of necessary accommodation which will require a lengthy period to overtake. The expenditure

on public buildings last year was £655,000, whiclv was almost exactly twice the previous year's outlay. The allocation for the current year is £1.089.000. This includes £550,000 for school buildings, £459,000 for post and telegraph buildings, and a substantial provision for air defence bases and for general buildings, such as courthouses, mental hospitals, departmental offices, and a special building for the broadcasting service. "Construction work on these buildings and on housing will be limited only by the number of skilled tradesmen available. Special measures are being adopted to increase the number of tradesmen, and building activities will be co-ordinated in order to keep the available tradesmen in constant employment. "On examination of the existing accommodation for Government administrative work, it was found that the staffs and departments were spread over a large area in Wellington city. This has resulted in costly means of intercommunication, and, following the procedure in other countries, the Government has had a comprehensive plan prepared for grouping Government offices around Parliament Buildings on modern town-planning principles and suitable in every way lor the accommodation of the nation's

legislative and administrative functions. A bill dealing with the acquisition of the land necessary for this purpose will be introduced to Parliament during the present session. Improvement of Roading "The development and improvement of roading is an activity upon which it is admittedly possible to employ large numbers of men and at the same time it is difficult to analyse the !•":;'..•)'.•• hi terms of monetary loss or gain. Deviations or improvements of existing roads result in a saving in annual maintenance costs, the greater proportion of the expenditure goes in wages, and the improved roads meet a real need of a large and increasing section of the community. The removal of the barriers of distance between city and country must