PUBLIC WORKS POLICY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 223, 19 April 1933, Page 6

PUBLIC WORKS POLICY

Reorganisation Advocated

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE STATEMENT

Reorganisation of the public works system along the lines that the public purse and true economy demands, is more than, ever urgent, says a statement by the Associated Chambers of Commerce. In this direction the valuable recommendations of the National Expenditure Commission still await adoption. Now that the Prime Minister has publicly announced his agreement with the Associated Chambers that State expenditure must be further reduced in keeping with the fall in the national income, attention must again be concentrated on means of effecting economy. In this connection the public works system is a worthy if neglected subject. The National Expenditure Commission, without casting any reflection on the officers of the department, unanimously recommended a reversion to the contract system of carrying out public works, which it considered would have an immediate and far-reaching result in so far as the present organisation of the department was concerned.

There would no longer be any necessity for the maintenance of a large administrative staff designed to control and carry out public works in every corner of the Dominion, said the Commission, the administrative staff could be reduced to an advisory amd inspectorial staff, and the clerical and accounting system could be greatly simplified. A month after the presentation of this report the Minister of Public Works made a public statement on the economies that had been carried out in the department He showed that, as compared with 1930-31, gross administrative costs had been reduced by £200,0D0, and the staff by 41 per cent, while a total reduction of the staff by 50 per cent, was in sight. It '. was intended as a general policy that I future works be undertaken by public ■ tender as far as practicable, he said. Taking this measure of economy on its i merits, it is to be rioted that by far the | greater reduction has been in the num- | ber of temporary officers—a reduction i of Gl per cent.—while the personnel of ! permanent officers has been reduced by | only 13 per cent. This latter reduc-

• tion is out of all proportion 1o the I smaller amount of money now availah!' i for public works. The amount, spent j by the department in 1930-31, under all i accounts, was £0.307,113, according to the j report of the National Expenditure Comj mission, while the Prime Minister stated in Auckland recently that the amount ■ available for public works for the finj ancial year now entered into would be I between two and three million pounds. j Taking £2,500,000 as the figure, a reduc- ' tion of 73 per cent, is shown in the I amount of money available for public j j works, as compared with 1930-31, so that I i staff adjustments to date have far from j j remedied the top-heavy nature of the I I department. I | The Minister of Public Works stated ! i that the position that must bo recog- j j nised was that the lesser amount of i work consequent on the restriction of I i loan money for public works did not j . warrant the retention of as many officers as the department had had and j there was no course open but retrench- j ment. The Minister then indicated that j the total remaining staff of 995 was to j be further reduced by 22. Obviously, ostentation is still being maintained j around the tomb of extravagant loan I expenditure on public works. It is time j the orisons were concluded. ' It has been pointed out by the Min- ! ister that the department does not spend i only loan money, but that its activities j | are many and varied. This is undeniably i I the case, but necessity ought to make it I possible for certain activities to be dele- { I gated—to private contractors where pos- j sible—and minor activities to be sus- j pended. If private contracts were reverted to, there would be no necessity for a department of such dimensions as ai present. The Minister himself agreed 1 that if all works were carried out by j i private contract, it would be possible to j j reduce the staff of the department still I further. I

The National Expenditure Commission is emphatic on the point, as is shown in the following passage from its l'eport: "We feel so confident that a reversion to the contract system is the only satisfactory basis on which true economy can be obtained that we have not con-sidered-it necessary to inquire into the possibilities of effecting economy, assuming the present po> ; cy is to be continued." Not merely pruning of the present system of public works, which has been the sum of economy to date. but a complete change in the system,is necessary to meet the needs of the situation.