The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1920. PUBLIC WORKS STARVED.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1920. PUBLIC WORKS STARVED.

Until the Public Works Statement has been delivered by the Minister (Mr. Coates) it is impossible to comment on the programme for the current year, but as the Budget has limited.the available money to three million, it is evident that a policy of vigorous development is out of the question. If the new methods promised by the Minister are to be adopted, it is probable that a large portion of the money must be invested in lauor-saving machinery, and as the cost of labor and materials has risen to such an extent that three millions to-day will only represent slightly more than a million be-, fore the war, it is obvious public works must again be starved. This is a very serious position, in view of the fact that the development of the country, especially in the opening up of new land for production by returned soldiers, immigrants and others depends on the provision of the necessary facilities which it is the duty of the Public Works Department to supply. Since the war started, public works have moved but little, and though Mr. Coates may possess the requisite zeal, initiative and resourcefulness to expedite the works under his control, he is not being given a fair chance to carry out reforms and establish a record for progress, owing to the small amount of money at his command. That he will do the best he can under the circumstances may be expected, but the arrears of work are heavy, and though by concentrating on the most urgent requirements appreciable progress may be made, there is so much to be done and so little money available that the interests of the country are bound to be prejudicially affected. If the custom in vogue before the war had been revived, and last year's surplus of revenue had been added to the three millions now proposed for public works, there would have been over five million available—not a fraction too much for the currying out of urgent developmental works. The only hope the Minister can have of making even a moderate show of work accomplished this year depends on the adoption of the most efficient, modern laborsaving machinery, and some of the anxiety of the public would be removed by a Ministerial announcement to the effect that orders have already been placed therefor, as not a moment's time should be lost in the acquisition of this machinery. That the Department will fail 'to attract a sufficient quantity of the right class of labor is a foregone conclusion unless the wages offered show a'material advance. This aspect of the question has to be faced, and the Minister will need to ignore the argument that has been made use of that the Government should not compete in the labor market against private employers. There is far too much at stake, so far as the country is concerned, to retard public works on such untenable grounds. The policy of masterly inactivity on the part of the Government in connection with the construction of roads, bridges and railways to open up the undeveloped land and other resources of the Dominion has led to the inflation of land values to a dangerous extent, has heavily penalised the returned soldiers and absorbed the lai'ge sum allocated for soldiers' settlement, thereby causing considerable hardship, and has greatly enhanced the cost of production. Cheap land and close settlement are the two great factors that should have dominated the Government's policy, but cheap land could not be made available without public works, while closer settlement has had no chance of materialising owing to .the lack of effective Government action to carry out this long needed reform. By starving public works, labor has drifted to other employment, and the country is suffering economically. Increased expansion involves a corresponding enlargement of the capacity of th_e railway* to. meet

the additional business. Can this be met? If the views of the late General Manager (Mr. Hiley) were founded on a sound basis, a regeneration of the railway system was so imperative that he propouHded a scheme, which was , to have started in 1914, for work spread over ten years, involving an estimated outlay of three and a quarter millions. Before leaving the Dominion, Mr. Hiley distinctly stated that the railways had no margin to carry additional business. What, then, must be the position to-day? The railways can only retard progress instead of forwarding it, and as they are the-life blood of the country it can readily be conceived whither the policy of drift is tending. There ■ is something seriously wrong in ttiis attitude, and the I ficial heads whose duty it is to advise the Minister are shouldering a responsibility that bids fair to lead to a break-down, unless it is contended that Mr. Hiley's warning was mere scaremonging—a supposition that is unthinkable. The small amount of money to be raised for hydro-electric development is another instance of the shelving of urgent public works, for it is obvious that £650,000 will be of little use except for preliminary work. The only way in which that sum could be usefully spent would be in assisting such schemes as are in progress by public bodies, and will eventually be linked up with .the national scheme. Tne provision of transmission lines to outer districts would be of the greatest service, and would be speedily revenueproducing,' while at the present rate of progress of the Government scheme, and the need for supplementary plant at Lake Coleridge, it will'be many years before the country generally will benefit. Plausible intentions look well on paper, but they are at best mere verbiage. What is needed is the raising of-'■sufficient money to carry out the public works that are essential- to the welfare of the Dominion and its people.