HOW THE MONEY GOES.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 250, 22 January 1889, Page 2

HOW THE MONEY GOES.

THE HABBOB BOARD AND McEWAN AND CO. A DEAB BARGAIN FOB SOMEBODY. At the Harbor Board meeting yesterday,thfl cement question came' up for discussion. ™ Mr H. E. Johnston wrote:— “ Be tender National Mortgage and Agency Company for 1000 tons cement, I consider the action of your Board in accepting Msesrs MoEwan and Co's, offer for same without allowing the National Mortgage and Agenoy Company the refusal at the accepted figure, most discourteous, and I feel oonfldent that the Board need not ekpdot to receive bona fide tender* from reliafile parties in future. On behalf of tha National Mortgage and Agency Company I must say that it is ineomptehtn* sible to me bow any public Board of oom. petent business men should sanction such treatment to a firm holding the position that the Company does. Not only ars tboy at considerable expense* in cabling, but thsit tender is made public so that other compel!tors oan trade on the information, moreover the notice for new tenders being so remarkably short, owing to ths intervention of tha holiday, that it wa* next to impossible to be able to tender from a distance io time. It seems to me a pity that the Board’s Engineer could not have ascertained the price of cement at home before he put the colonial houses to needless trouble and expense, and subjected them to such shameful treatment as the National Mortgage and Agency Company have received at the hands of your Board." Received. The National Agency Company wrote :— ” We are in receipt of yours of 3rd inst., intimating that our tender for supply of cement bad been declined, and returning our marked cheque for £lOO, which has comq safely to hand. That your Board had a perfect right to reject all the tenders, wo do not for a moment dispute, but we submit that It is unfair, under such circumstances, to disclose the prices, and then apply by cable to another firm, which had not competed, to send in a lower price. Such procedure earn only bring about one result, viz , to prevent legitimate and healthy competition. We may state that we incurred the sum of £l6 5s 8d for cablegrams to and from London, and as we were the lowest tenderer* in the open market, and the Board profited by the information we supplied, we beg to enclose our account for the above outlay, and trust, under the circumstances, it will be recognised and the amount remitted to u*.—National MoRTGAOa AND AGENCY CO." Mr Matthewson said it was not too late for the Board to countermand the order; He considered the tender of McEwan and Co. was an informal one, as they bad been asked to give a price. The Board should at ones communicate with McEwan and Co., and inform them that they would not now aooept tbeir offer. The Board agreed to inform the Agency Company that they did not consider thornselves liable to pay for the cablegrams. Th* further consideration of the letter was held over.

On the account for cablegrams to MoEwan and Co. being brought up for payment Member Matthewson said he thought the Board should rescind the order for cement. The Chairman considered that it was a most unsatisfactory arrangement. MoEwan had first agreed to supply the cement at 14s 3d psr cask, and then the price waa altered to 14s 91 they (MoEwan and Co) paying all expenses and now there wao a further sum of £B5 for establishing a credit with the Bank. Mr Chambers did not believe in so much chopping and changing—the Board should stand by their arrangement. The Secretary then read a cablegram which had been forwarded to MoEwan and Co, accepting their offer for the supply of osment. Mr Sievwright proposed and Mr Chambers seconded that the amount be paid. Mr Matthewson proposed that ths ordir sent to McEwan and Co be oanoelled. The Board would have been treated just ss wall by the Mortgage Company, If McEwan and Co pressed any litigation ho would allow this motion to drop. Mr Dickson seconded tha motion. He had proposed the acceptance of the Mortgage Company's tender. The tenders for ocmsnt had been opened in every loose way anl they had treated the lowest tenders mast unfairly. The Chairman said that as the Board had entered into a contract with MoEwan and Oo he would vote in favor of Mr Siovwright'e motion. The melter esensed to be greatly complicated. By the Board keeping to th* arrangement with McEwan and Co they would, at least save £5O.

Mr Sievwright asked the Chairman why he did not put the question to the vote at one*. The Chairman wanted to know whether he had to be silent and not say anything at all. He could not understand what Mr Sievwright meant. The motion of Mr Sievwright was then put and carried, Mr Matthewson said the tedder of the Mortgage Company was far more favorable than that of MoEwan end 00, as the tatter firm tendered by the cask and the Mortgage Company by the ton. The Board should have ■ made some arrangement aa regards weight, they they did not know now what sized casks they would get. Mr Chamber* considered that the speaker was out of order. Mr Matthewson said he was explaining that there was no contract entered into between the Board and MoE wan, it was merely an order. They had cabled to their agents at home for a price and the Board had accepted the offer. The Chairman said th* matter had now been fully discussed, but should any member wish to bring the question up before the ful{ Board he could do so. Mr South (representing IWingate, Burns and C 0.,) one of the original tenderers, asked leave to address the Board ox the matter. He stated that the Board had not treated the colonial tenderer* with either courtesy or the consideration they deserved. They had just passed accounts for cablegrami to MoEwan and Co., and also an amount of £B5 oommission to the Bank to aeoure for that firm a credit in Loudon. These wer* no part of the conditions, and other tenderers were not co favored. McEwan and Co. had not time to see the conditions, and had not even now conformed to them, nor were they bound flown so rigidly' a* other tenderers wou'd be if their tender* had been successful. AU other firms bsd to go to the expense of cabling for prices, but the Board paid for cablegrams to the accepted tenderer, end now they confirmed the acceptance of that tender which, with the exchange as added and oosts incurred, and now voted by the Board make it at least 5 per cent, higher than th* low*st former tenderer!. The Chairmen informed Mr South that letters had been received from other t*n« defers also complaining. Th<f matter.then dropped.