The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Saturday, May 11, 1889. ANOTHER HARBOR TROUBLE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 297, 11 May 1889, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Saturday, May 11, 1889. ANOTHER HARBOR TROUBLE.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God's, and truth's.

Elsewhere we publish a full report of the enquiry made by the Harbor Board into the stone contract trouble ; in ordinary circumstances the matter would not be worth more than a few lines, but our experience in connection with Harbor Board affairs is that when full publicity is not given to little matters of no great importance In themselves, they become cloaked with a mystery which gives rise to mistaken views in the minds of the ratepayers. The plain facts about this latest trouble appear to be that Mr McLoughlin has taken over the contract under very stringent conditions, and fortune has not smiled upon him, the result of which was that the Board was left with an inadequate supply of stone. The contractor then makes complaints which the Engineer satisfactorily replies to, and in any case the former is completely bound by the specifications. Sympathy will naturally be with the contractor in his drawbacks, but he would have acted more wisely if he had let things take their course, or have been prepared to substantiate his case.

But there are one or two points the seriousness of which demands public attention. The short supply of stone resulted in the main work being partially stopped, and a large number of hands being allowed to go idle, until instructions were given for the Board to put on men to assist the contractor. Then, and only then, it is found that a plentiful supply of stone can be obtained, though at an increased cost. Yet in the face of this Mr Matthewson has the presumption to ask that the ratepayers should pay for the increased cost 1 Probably the suggestion was the result of thoughtlessness, and we are glad to notice that it was not listened to by the other members, for it would be scandalous to think of allowing such a gross breach of faith with the ratepayers. Mr McLoughlin is perfectly right in striving to obtain any remissions he can, but we could have hardly thought it possible that a member of the Board would think of making such a remission at the expense of the ratepayers, much less to be the first to suggest it. The contractor had then, and has now, the privilege of putting on his own men, provided the supply of stone is kept up, but no consideration for the contractor should permit of the works being stopped. This is a phase of the question which has not necessarily any bearing on the subject of enquiry, but in case of its being brought up at any future time it is just as well that it should be undertood that nothing of the kind will be tolerated. We think, too, that Mr Matthewson ought to know that it is a very strange way of endeavoring to “ promote harmony ” by accusing the officials of the Board with being in personal friction with the contractor, the only reason given for stating this being that Mr Thomson had maintained in the first instance that the contract price is too low, an opinion which circumstances appear to be confirming. As was said at the meeting, the Board would not have been far wrong had it considered the advisableness of censuring the Engineer for allowing the works to be stopped when the addidional expense was the only excuse for the supply of stone not being kept up. As to Mr McLoughlin himself, there is no reason why the Board should use its power harshly, and it is agreed he is entitled to every possible facility; he is one of those contractors whom it is to the district’s interest not to dishearten. But he surely cannot be thinking of the position in which he is placed when he says that if he is not able to rectify the misfortune which he sustained by the washing away of the embankment at the island, he will be unable to guarantee a supply of stone. The stone must be got, and if the contractor is not prepared to incur any additional expense that may be necessary, his only recourse is to appeal to the Board,