The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23, 1908. PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13707, 23 September 1908, Page 4

The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23, 1908. PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Mr Hall J-/ne* i-<.iidi»4.--<t th- l»«hlsc Works Siatcnifii!- »»Vui« !»»• Kul U-foj*. iRc Hhuhc ui JtcpruMw'a l "'*-* ***'* cv«-m«g with a. nJ»ftJk J has- «h« and s«in« <'» »N af«un.| c-alh <.r " :i f.j:riv j->lit-y." A ai h*. w,-»y* jUii <jH*an» i«r ib«* nurciU tinan.'taj y«*ar, s4jw.t i«U through alftomxh i'arhamcti! i* only «<-» 'n author.*".' th* ".-otraiuswcots f»r is, s* *«J' Sic'i«-t»-. f> *Whe hsm ft«t( :my viwrjjo }*.!*■» !r. fortify l»sm*"H with it'll »'Vcr two :in4 3 luiif roi!l!"'*»"« *>f iiii.mn', all «>< wifh '-]»•- »'t.v|iUon "f a <4 I&OQ.OOO fr-mt '*k* <'<'«*«i'-<luU4 I'smd, i* i(, t<,m<! tt-om }»irr»-w««l ?mit «.<■-». J*r«>t>-h-.jl.iv /-inw of thr tra»«>f*'r l«t> *» »» Svaiicr U<m>tt<-<S, bwjii-w i» s» "Jf-tiV«-«l fr»»m -« stiri-lu-.* woyM It- c<*K*«i«T .-i!ih if ?«>: sn-jiuHy «-*iir»gyUJwl, ii \hc e<;m»l**Uic4 Kmvii wcse «>Ul>g<si t« »W '4w fitargw *?lu<h, uudrr a strict-

business system of keeping the accounts, ought to be charged., against it. We find for instance that last year a sum of J3364.T568 ms paid out of the ■ Public Works fund for "additions to open lines," while this year £350,000 is to be applied to the same purpose. In each case a considerable proportion of the money is for new rolling stock. We should like to know- how much of this was a,bona fide addition.to the plant of the working jand how muck, was simply wanted - to replace obsolete or wqro-ou* plant. The. Department has no 'depreciation fund, bub engines, carriages, and trucks do not last for ever, and when one lias to be scrapped, it- ought to be replaced out of current revenue, not- out of tlte Public Works Fund which is the colony's capital account. The publics-will perhaps say that all this is only the quibbling, of accountancy, and that, so long as the- plant is provided, it does not matter whether the replacement are j made from revenue or from capital. But | it matters a great- deal, -especially .to the younger generation who v in .-years to . come will have to bear the burden of the debt that is now being piled- up for them. If they have a succession of loans; to pay interest upou, and only one plant.to help them-in earning the interest, » they will'realise what it means to them to find " additions to open lines" -charged to the Public Works Fuud instead of .to the Consolidated Fund. The young electors are -those who ought-, in .their „owh interests, to pay attention to* these, financial matters. The. ? old hands* who .talk glibly about- "letting posterity bear JLN share," will perhaps have ceased., to worry about- finance and politics before the portion gets much more acute thai) i_<it. is now. Kveu now it is acute 'enough, seeing that, the margin-betweeit\the value of our exports and imports, which is. the fund out of which we, pay the. interest on our. indebtedness, is hardly -more than - sufficient to meet the inexorable demaud of* the moneylender for his pound «f ,flesb. And it has to be K remembered spite of the " expansion; and development" of which'Mr Hall-Jones speaks, -the ' cline of values of some of New Zealand's staple producte makes the national income a shrinking quantity, wliich, it is wise to recognise, ©nay shrink still further. We hope it will not do so, and we do not- desire -io cause needless- uneasiness . o)i that point. But the whole experience, of the. past year, and the public utt*r-. anees of men who do nothing but make . a study of 1, these financial tell us that without losing our heads iu 'a panic, we should prepare ourselves for-a slacking oft* in the wonderful prosperity we have enjoyed for a run :of years, by ' curtailing the public and private extra- ' » vagance wliich has been engendered by • ■ that prosperity.. One Io<)k» in.vajUjfoir any sign of this caution in. last nigjxts Statement. .Last- yean* expenditure from the Public Works Fund wa*» ,vritit. two i exceptions, the greatest known in any ' * Mngle year for the lu#l quarter .off, a £*n- » t«ry, ThiS' year Ms, Hall-Jones, claps ' more tlwn half a million an expenditure whitfk he adtnitsjhbiiwlC to bo - * exceptional. We f ,hope the colony ; will I be able to ht-md it; it- .will.be• popuUr 1 enough, we know, but the .popular-.poli-tician is not livceaaanly • «ue best friend of lii.H count rv.