of Burnt House Hill and Harbour Road, Warwick, have cost. That did not stop anyone who ever drove by being amazed by how long it took to widen a corner.

Remember the corner at Fourways Inn? People would probably make a special trip to Burnt House Hill to look at the corner if only they knew how much it cost.

That's a symbol really of Government waste. Unfortunately it is not the only symbol. Everyone knows of some Government expenditure which they consider either unnecessary or excessive or just plain dumb. Everyone complains about how long it takes to build a bus shelter.

Yet in tough times the people are told to cut their expenditure. Government sails on spending the public's money without much regard for economy when it should be helping the economy by cutting its costs.

Over budget? Put in a supplementary estimate for whatever the cost.

Will anyone complain? Not likely because the Opposition politicians are sitting tight waiting for their turn to tax and spend.

From where we sit, Government Information Services is a pet complaint. This newspaper does not know what they do on Church Street. Let us say that they do almost nothing for this newspaper. They have a large highly paid staff and a full complement of photographers. Yet much of the work they do is contracted out to other organisations like advertising agencies.

When the Bases Transition Team decided it needed public relations, the job was not done, as might be expected, by Government Information Services. Someone new was hired. The same thing was true, albeit very briefly, of the Ministry of Education. When there was a new Tourism advertising campaign, photographers were brought in from abroad to shoot some very unattractive pictures.

If work is to be farmed out, and that may well be the most effective way to go, then why is there need for such a large staff? Surely a clearing house for contracts, if that is what GIS now is, could be run by far fewer people.

The Housing Corporation is a very similar situation. It is very difficult to work out what their contribution is and to justify the need for the Corporation. It seems that they are a "left over'' organisation and that they could be closed and the work they do could be done by real estate agencies.

Much the same is true of the Consumer Affairs Bureau. It is much, much smaller than the other two but it does not seem to fill a need. Everyone we know who has ever complained has been told, "There's nothing we can do.'' Maybe that is the answer to all of this. There is nothing we can do about Government excess but we certainly can try.

Let us start by demanding to know what GP cars cost the public every year.

Wouldn't it be nice if we all had a second private car...paid for by the public purse.