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Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1074, 14 April 1882, Page 2

Jfrr.is altogether too bad on the part of the Public Works Department in Wellington to delay decision on the tenders sent in for various contracts in the way they cb- As an example, more than a montfrfcgo tenders were forwarded by various persons in this locality, for works in Hampden and Little Grey districts, but, up to the present time, no notice of acceptance of any have reached them. The total deposit on on each of these was about £200, a large sum for contractors to be out for long, and a sum that must in, some degree, cripple them. Not only is this locked up, but contractors fear in the meantime to go in for other work, lest, in case of their pending tenders being accepted, they should have more on their hands than they could properly attend to. Surely there are officers enough in the department to deal with tenders as they come in, or, any rate, within a day or two of their receipt. It would not be a great deal of trouble for the head of the department, on a tender being accepted, to send an official telegram, stating who was the | fortunate individual and permitting the others to at once withdraw their deposits. To allow a month or more to elapse is simply scandalous and is a great injustice to the less wealthy class of contractors. To persons with large means the detention of two or three hundred pounds for several weeks is a matter of no moment, but with the working class of contractors, who labor on their contracts themselves, it is altogether a different matter. These are the very men who should be specially encouraged, for, having no middle profits, they only look to their being wellpaid for their work and this satisfies them. Of course this only applies to the smaller kind of works, but, as we not likely to have anything stupendous in this district, the class in question are those who chiefly are affected by the delays of the Public Works Department We trust that, by thus bringing the subject forwrrd, we may succeed in spurring the department into greatef promptitude. There is no doubt that here is no intentional desire to inconvenience contractors of any degree, and, in all probabilty, the grievance has only to be pointed out to be recognised and a remedy provided.