STRANGLEHOLD TAXATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 51, 30 January 1932, Page 2

STRANGLEHOLD TAXATION.

ITS CAUSE AND THE REMEDY.

# (By “Lucifer.”) ' No. 2. Public Works Department (including its offshoots the electricity, architectural and main highways branches) —This huge department the greatest disperser of (Government in business) public moneys, which it . gobbles up with placid sang froid, is as at present bigamised, quite superfluous and, like ‘“Topsy” «(of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” fame) has growed and growed to such extent that it is crumbling under its own fatigue and overload. Now it is recognised by the great majority that this country. has long ago outgrown its. swaddling clothes, and whilst many years ago (just after Brogdens finished the first North Island railways), a small engineering department may Have been necessary., but it has outgrown itself and is no longer required, more especially as much better results at a greatly reduced expenditure can be attained by more businesslike and up-to-date methods.

In the Old Country there is no such thing as a Public Works Department, arid .no Minister;of Public Works as we know them.here. Certainly there, is His Majesty’s Office of Works which only repairs and maintains national buildings, structures,, parks, etc., and does not design or construct, the latter beirig done by engineers in private practice called in either by the Government or others requiring works, great or small, to be carried out. Also at. Home there is the Local Government Board composed of <about six of the most highly-trained engineers and businessmen, in the Kingdom whose functions will be explained under the heading, “Local Government.” If in the United Kingdom should an engineering work be required of whatever description—railway, tunnel, bridge, sewerage, waterworks, canal; docks, hydro-electric works, eto., whether the cost of such be ten thousand or ten million pounds—the work is always entrusted to a private firm or individual who designs and superintends same to completion. " Moreover, the work is always carried out by contract, the Government, local bodies and general publio being- well aware that this is the most economical, satisfactory and surest system under which to have the work done with the least possible trouble and anxiety to themselves. Even warships are now constructed under this system. It will be conceded that the staff of engineers and officials at present em-ployed-by the Public Works Department could carry out all the work they do now in offices rented and paid for by themselves, paying their assistants and draftsmen out of their own earned moneys, as is done by engineers at present in private practice in. the Dominion (who by the way are doing a starve because this big expensive Government deportment usurps ninety per cent, of the available work in this country to itself and offspring). Were the public works in this Dominion carried out on similar lines to those in force in the Old Country there would be a great Baving in expenditure here (possibly, 83 per cent, or more) for the reason that the designing and preparation for these works would be performed in numerous private offices where supervision would be much closer (by the principal), and where only a limited number of, employees would be ' engaged. ' This would : also apply to construction, as all work would be carried out. by contract. '

t To afford some idea of the big staff employed, and the ramifications of this colossal Public Works Department,' it may be quoted that, according to a circular graph on page xiii, Public Works Statement, 1931, by the Hon. W. B. Taverner, the expenditure is shown to be over £7,415,000 for eight sub-diepartmentß, and over £719,800 for - three other sub-departments-(these latter being immigration, telegraph extension and miscellaneous), or a total disbursement of nearly £8,136,000.

The annual statistics issued by the Publio Service Commissioner show that salaries have increased from 1914. to 1931 by £142,500, and now amount to no less a sum than £244,400. : By the same statistics it is gathered that there are 759 permanent and -627 temporary officials in this department, a total of 1386, a good regiment and a-half of infantry, brass hats and all.

Some of the salaries paid to officials of the department are fairly tall, but one must admit that if you want good men (and get them ?) you must pay them accordingly. The following is the list as on the 31st March, 1930: Administrative, 1 at £1909; professional, 1 at £I2OO, 1 at £llsO, 1 at £IOOO, 1 at £9OO, 1 at £875, 2 at £BSO. 2 at £BOO, 9 at £765; professional class A, 12 at £BIBO, £6Bl each average; professional class B, 8 at £4320, £540 each average; professional olass C, 26 at £12.025, £462 each average. Note that this list does not include the thousands of casuals and workmen employed by and under the department. The remaining 647 on the list range from £425 to £lB5 per annum. By way of retrenchment the writer is aware that a goodly number of the lower xatings at the lower salaries have been dispensed with and (as one of these married men unfortunates remarked) all the “heads” with cushy jobs have not been molested. , In New Zealand in every town (collectively) there are pome thousands of unoccupied offices, and if the foregoing with regard to the P.W.D. and other departments were acted upon there would be no need to build palatial Post Offices (as proposed for Dunedin) at a cost of £300,000, with hundreds of offices to house other branches of “the Government in business policy,” for the simple reasons that the said departments would not exist and the erstwhile officials would occupy their own offices, the rents for which would be paid by their own cash and not by that, of the State. The writer does not propose to criticise too closely the work of the P.W.D., but' one cannot close the eyes to the .Arapuni trouble or the great expenditure on Mangahao (money spent over and above the estimate). On the other hand much good work has been carried out, but one must hot enquire too minutely into the cost of siime.

The contribution of the State (subsidy) to the superannuation funds of the undermentioned departments in 1929-80 (see balance sheets) was as follows: —Public Service Superannuation Fimd, £186,000; railways Servioe, £170,000; teachers, £71,830; total, £427,830. And owing to the goodly number of Publio Works officials a fair slice of the first-named sum may be attributed to that department. In this connection it is only fair to state that the three departments stated contributed themselves for superannuation \he sum of £576 - 900. •

One of the blemishes of the present system is that in addition - to the headquarters of this department in Wellington, there are numerous district offices, probably nine or ten in other cities, each presided over by a district engineer with a staff of assistants and clerks. It is difficult to account for the necessity of these offshoots inasmuch as it is understood .that their powers are very limited.

It is said vtliat . even .matters of small importance have to be submitted to Wellington for criticism and approval. Then why this multiplication of sub-offices when the Post Office provides facilities for submitting proposals, plans and documents either from the sub-offices -or the. public within 24 or. at the most 48 hours. In these circumstances it would seem that the district offices are superfluous. It may here be stated that fire P.W.D. paid in 1930 over £16,200 in office rents throughout New Zealand, and-that'this in itself would'be a good saving to make no one will deny. Before leaving the subject of the P.W.D. this writer would like to know what officials and how many of them are responsible for the ordering and purchasing of materials,. plant and machinery, and to what extent and cost such are procured from foreign countries (giving' names of the latter)'. It would appear that such purchases possibly may run into a considerable multiple of tens of thousands per annum for such materials and plant as bitumen, dredges, air. compressors, power drills, motor vehicles, lathes, tractors, electric appliances, etc. The writer once paid a visit to an electric sub-station and was surprised tb’ find- that fully 75 per oent. of the instruments had the name * ‘Schenectady” on them, whilst on reading, a Government publication on “Modern Methods .in ' our Workshops” the first tiling he noticed was the word “Cincinnati..”. Nuf sedl

Now there is a country on this old earth that has erected an unclimbable tariff wall around itself, and it is a fact that we here trade with it to the extent of large quantities of shekels for similar goods to those mentioned above without the chance of a tiny rivulet having a fall towards us, and yet we have men in high positions in this land who at election and subsequent times continually yell at us “Buy New Zealand goods” or “Buy British.'-’. Pshaw!

This question of the purchase of foreign goods for use in this country, is well worthy of the closest scrutiny by the powers that be. "The purchase of other than British goods, in so far as New Zealanders are concerned, no matter what the cost, cannot under any circumstances be justified because fully 90 per cent, of all the money we receive for our products comes from Britain, even the square foot of ground on which we ore permitted to stand, to say nothing of the freedom we-enjoy. There may be alleged reasons, asserted by interested persons, namely : —(a) The goods cost less money, (b) The goods are more suitable for the purpose, but these assertions will not hold water, as we can get everything we want from our own Empire people. Reason No. 2 is repugnant to all British people and is punishable by law, so it need not be here discussed.

Under the present system there can be no spirit of emulation -as between the departmental and outside engineers. This tends to produce ‘ stereotyped results,. both as to design, construction and' costs, and this, however, it is gauged, is unsatisfactory to the man who has to pay..' 1