DANGEROUS CROSSINGS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 263, 4 October 1933, Page 9

DANGEROUS CROSSINGS.

ELIMINATION BY UNEMPLOYED. SUGGESTION TO PARLIAMENT. WELLINGTON, Oct. 3. A suggestion that the present would be opportune for utilising unemployed labour on the elimination of dangerous railway crossings throughout the country was made by Mr A. E. Ansell when speaking on the Address-in-Reply.

Mr Ansell said that, but for the No. 10 building subsidy scheme, work now undertaken would not have been placed in hand, just at>a time when revival wos desirable. The Unemployment Board had made a wise move in instituting the scheme. Mr W. J. Jordan: The wrong people are getting it. “There may be abuses and probably are,” replied Mr Ansell, “and I hope the Unemployment Board will make careful investigations with a view to eliminating any abuses that may exist.” He pointed out that between 20 and 30 trades were concerned in the erection of a building, with the result that the benefit was felt in nearly every branch of industry. The scheme thus expedited the return of the artisans to their trades. In suggesting the absorption of unemployed on the elimination of dangerous railway crossings, Mr Ansell said that nothing had been done in that direction for the past two or three years. About 50 per cent, of the cost would be absorbed in .wages, whether for the construction of over-

head bridges, subways or deviations. It would not necessarily be a heavy burden on the Unemployment Board, because the cost could be shared by the board, the Highways Board and the Railway Department. The responsibility of local bodies in this matter was small enough to be negligible. The elimination of the crossings was a work of national importance.