PUBLIC WORKS POLICY

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1932, Page 13

PUBLIC WORKS POLICY

blunders of THE past need FOR NEW METHODS. private contract system. With the collapse of the public works system, the public mind is now awakenino. to a realisation of the fact that the expenditure of borrowed money on public works has. been allowed to run riot in New Zealand and must now be repaid ip gruelling taxes, writes the Associated Cramberg of Commerce of New Zealand. It is only natural, therefore, that there should be a determination that in future all public works should be subjected to the closest scrutiny and not handed out in response to the pressure of politicians and their constituencies. . Whatever the party in power, the practice has been for local districts to press on the Minister of public-Works, or the Government, through their respective members of Parliament, their claims for a share in the State expenditure on public works. What those constituents overlook and what the politicians ignore is that the money comes from no magical and limitless store, but from the pockets of the people of New Zealand, which includes themselves. There is no known instance in the history of the world where the State has ever succeeded in creating wealth withtou depriving someone of the same opportunity; it can only transfer money or benefits from one portion of the community to another portion. When the

Exchequer emptied, the Government has to extract more money from the pockets of the people by means of taxes. UNSOUND Again, public works have been undertaken without proper investigation as to their economic soundness. How could it be otherwise when one thinks for a moment of the procedure followed? Eiret, the Minister of Public Works decides that a certain work m desirable. Secondly, the Public Works Department is called on to give an estimate—not, be it noted, to report authoritatively as to whether the. project is good or bad business and should or should not be proceeded with. Thirdly, the Minister, who is not an engineer, accepts the estimate without question and blings it before the House. Fourthly, the House, also without the technical knowledge to be able to challenge the accuracy of the estimate, passes it in turn without question, and the work is earned out. ‘ If the estimate is many thousands of pounds wide of the mark —-as has often been the case—then the taxpayers have to pay. When further public works are considered desirable, the same procedure is followed in each case. The Public Works Department—and no personal reflection on the public service is intended ig jn an unassailable position. It is a servant responsible only to masters who are not competent to judge of its work, so that it becomes the real master and presents an ultimate bill of any size at all, secure in the knowledge that the bill will always be met-yuntil there is a collapse, such as we have seen. Are we again going to build up the same system when better days return? Are we again going to waste needless millions in brick and mortar and steel, monuments to foolishness strewing the land, dead, “assets ’ in a time of national crisis, with no more value than gold pieces in an uninhabited island? SPIRIT OF COMPETITION. The Public Works Department is only fulfilling a function deliberately prescribed Xy the State, and since the question is one of State policy, there is no reason to attack the public service. But when all exceptions, reservations and distinctions are made, there remains the incontrovertible fact that a huge department like that of public works cannot be conducted economically when it is subject to no expert supervision or competition, but only to the influences of politics. Was not that discovery made with the Railways Department and the position rectified? It is not the purpose of these arguments to advocate the complete cessation of public works expenditure in future. Certain works will still require to be undertaken, but it is ab.solutely imperative that the proposals should first be thoroughly investigated and undertaken only if it can be shown that they are necessary and that . they will unquestionably give a proper return on the outlay. To ensure this, the function of the Public Works Department should be completely changed and all public works submitted to pubi lie tender and carried out by private , contractors. This would create that competition which makes for true economy; the incentive to economise is provided in no degree whatever under ■ the present constitution of the Public i Works Department. ; Of course, the cry will rise from some: “What about Arapuni? What about o'ther public works on which private enterprise has failed?” Well, what of them? The Public Works Department, which has repeatedly exceeded estimates to such an enormous extent that the halls of Parliament have echoed, will be the last to raise that cry. A few unfortunate instances canno*t destroy the case for private enterprise, which has proved more compe- : tent and more economic the world over ’ than all the splendidly extravagant ( schemes of money-juggling a State could . devise.