CLOSER CONTROL

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 124, 20 May 1932, Page 2

CLOSER CONTROL

COST OF PUBLIC WORKS RECASTING THE SYSTEM (Specially Written for the "Press”) "With the whole public works system of Nev/ Zealand in the meltingpot, the present time offers an invaluable opportunity to so recast it as to prevent in the future any recurrence of the enormous extravagance of past years,” says the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand.

“ There is no doubt that the words of Sir Joseph Ward, when speaking on the Public Works Statement in the House of Representatives on November 4, 1927, mirrored the conditions that existed. He said (Hansard, volume 215, page 641): 'Does the position not suggest to us the present need for a great change? In the House of Representatives we are becoming a sort of grand road board. Periodically we come here and. ask the Government to niake provision for the expenditure of millions of money. Although there is not a. member who is ignorant of the fact that the Government has not got the money to spend, they have the authority for over £12,000,000, truly 1 a prodigious «sum of money. —. If a local body desires to make an impres- • sion upon the Government the member i for the district is asked to introduce the deputation to one of the Ministers. That sort of thing continues throughout the session until the fatal day arrives when the Public Works Statement and estimates are brought down and ! hon. members see the results of their , efforts. To-day the position is worse '' than ever and we are still hovering i around like vultures around the carrion to pick out what we can get!’ Mr Forbes’ View ' "In the same debate, the Prime Mini ister, Rt. Hon. G'. W. Forbes, then speaking as a private member, voiced . some trenchant criticism of the system lof public works. He said (pages 632

and 633): ‘The hon. member for Auck-

; land Central said it would have been very much better if, instead of the work (Arapuni) being let by contract, the. Public Works Department had undertaken it. I cannot subscribe to that view because we have seen ome of the results of the Public Works Department carrying out hydro-electric installations. Take for instance the j Mangahao scheme. The estimate made in 1919 was that the cost would be £l,600,000. In 1922 it was again estimati ed that the work done to date had cost £1,534,000. The actual cost of the work was £2,243,000. After an experience like that with the Public Works • estimates they do not appear to he a ; very good basis on which to build anything.

" ‘We had an experience in Canterbury -with an engineering firm employed by the Christchurch City Council to give an estimate in regard to a scheme for utilising the Waimakariri river. The firm was an American one (name given) and it made a most extensive investigation in regard, to the dam and the country round about before attempting to make an estimate. It was for nearly six months boring and investigating and it has been recognised, by those who have engineering experience that there has not been a more thorough investigation made in regard to any public work in this country. When the investigation was complete, the firm said that if a lower contract could not be secured it would work for 10 per cent in addition to the amount of the estimate it had furnished.

“ ‘I would like to know in regard to the estimate submitted to the Minister of Public Works and. to the House, what happens when the estimates are exceeded to such an enormous extent as in the case of Mangahao. . .. When we are asked to believe that the department can carry out the work more cheaply than a private firm, all wc can say in the light of actual experience is that in hydro-elec-tric work we do not get results when it does undertake them “Disregard to Cost” “ 'I know it has been a matter of pride almost with successive Ministers of Public Works when they get hold of the department to be able to sasr ‘I have been able to beat all my predecessors in expenditure,’ continued Mr Forbes. ‘I do not question the ability of the men in charge, but I do say that when the department has a free hand for the carrying out of works without any check it is apt to show disregard to cost. The officers say ‘we do not need to go to the trouble of investigating for we can carry out the •work even if there is a mistake and no one will question the cost. It does not

matter whether the work costs double the amount of the estimate, no question is raised’ .... I have said before that I believe the time has tome when we should have a closer control of the immense expenditure on public, works. At present it is left almost entirely for the department to determine what money is to be spent. The departmental officers bring their estimates to the Minister a»d ho presents them to the House and no reduction is made in them. ’

“Since taking office Mr Forbes’s opinion of the public works system must have been confirmed, and it is only reasonable for the country to expect that he will place the department on a proper business footing, thereby ensuring to the taxpayers a proper return for their money. This would bo done by contracts thoroughly investigating ,all proposed works and entering into contracts with private enterprise for all public works.”