395
ક
with the late Director of Public Works, Mr. Chatham, and recommended that, apart from the golf links, the whole of King's Park, including the Rifle Range, should be thrown open for building pur- poses. In fact at that time all manner of schemes were being suggested by local architects for utilizing the available area to the best advantage, but the whole question seems to have been allowed to lapse.
3. My third point is to suggest a query as to whether the Government is wise in spreading out its expenditure over so many items, for it must be remembered that, on uncompleted items of work, whether they be Government buildings, or Quarters for Officers, or even motor roads, the particular work, whilst still in an uncompleted state is of no worth or utility whatever, and merely repre- sents a loss of so much interest on the money expended on it. This point seems to me to be specially worthy of consid- eration, in view of the stupendous pro- gramme of Public Works for 1922-a programme which, although it looks well on paper, admittedly is not likely to be carried out in anything like its entirety.
In connection with delay in comple- tion, the new quarters for Government Servants now approaching completion on the Severn Road are a most glaring in- stance of delayed completion, and I should like to be informed:-(1) When work was first begun on the sites for these houses; and (2) What is the total amount expended to date on these three houses?; (3) What is the total amount expended to date on the three tennis courts appertaining to these three houses? (4) What was the contract date for the completion of these three houses and tennis court, and whether there was any penalty clause in such contracts and whether it was enforced; and if not, why it was not enforced? (5) I should also like to ask why it was considered necessary to have a separate tennis court for each of those houses. Such a procedure savours of absolutely wasteful squandering of public money, I refer to the tennis courts.
4. The question of the expensiveness of the Official Quarters on Severn Road naturally leads me to remark upon the very large sums which the Government is expending for the housing of its Officers at the Peak and at Leighton Hill. From items 1 and 3 (on page 76 of the Estimates for 1922) it will be seen that the estimated total expenditure on such Quarters for 1921 is $636,000 and that the estimated expenditure for such Quarters in is $590,000, roughly speaking, six lakhs of dollars for each of the years 1921 and 1922.
For my own part, I regard such ex- penditure as being very extravagant from the Colony's point of view, having regard to the present high cost of build- ing and to the fact that officers not entitled to free quarters, who occupy quarters supplied by the Government, only pay rent for such quarters at the rate of 6 per cent. upon salary and not at the rate of 6 per cent. upon the cost of the building.
Speaking for myself, I think that this system of expensive housing ought not to extend beyond the completion or erection of the Officers' Quarters, of which the Public Works Committee have already had notice.
In this connection I consider that the Public Works Department are very much to blame for setting up a very expensive standard of Officers' Quarters, both as regards number and size of rooms and the provision of tennis courts.