10.
extra expenditure which in its turn has to be met by in-
creased taxation.
396
Before dealing with the Public Works Extraordinary Vote I would ask Honourable Members to note that the sum of $500,000 has again been inserted to pay the final instal- ment to the Admiralty in respect of the Naval Arsenal Yard and Kellet Island. Payment has been in abeyance for the last twelve months and the exact date of payment is still under correspondence with the Secretary of State for the Colonies, but is not unlikely to fall within the next financial year.
The Public Works Extraordinary vote has been re- duced from $3,591,950 in 1934 to $2,999,450 in 1935. For the details of this expenditure I would refer Honourable Members to the memorandum supplied by my Honourable friend the Director of Public Works. A perusal of this memoran-
dum will indicate the lines on which the Government has
worked. We have endeavoured to carry on expeditiously our already heavy programme of commitments most of which are for works long overdue but we have inevitably been forced to postpone all new works except those which are regarded
as essential. Of these I assume there will be no differ-
ences of opinion about the need for the Trade School which the Building Contractors' Association has generously offered to construct at cost price. I invite attention to subheads
33 and 60 Yards for storage of sand. This expenditure has been forced on the Government by the rapid exhaustion