Original Correspondence.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1128, 11 September 1882, Page 2

Original Correspondence.

BLACK'S POINT ROAD. I [To tiie Editor Inanoahva Times.] Sir, - Could you bo so kind as to give me the following information : — Ist. When did the time expire for the completion of tho Black's Point slip contract. 2nd. How much time was allowed over and above the original time specified. 3rd.. Has any more 'money been grantojd to contractor over the original amount of tender. 4. How much longer is the public to be humbugged for the traffic to be stopped and life endangered, simply because our public masters grant contracts at that low figure, that it is impossible to carry out conditions without first sweeping aftyay the specifications, which other cu&bractors expected to see enforced, and, therefore, tendered higher accordingly. — I 1 am, &c, One of the Public. Reefton, September 6th, 1882. !

[To the Editor Inangahua Times.] Sir, — The eccentric manner in which contracts have been earned out under the County Council, in this district for the last few years, has been matter of comment from the District Judge down to the district drudge, and certainly not any one contract'lteVfbr the last few years can, compare or equal, for its inefficiency, as regards completeness and thorough disregard to specifications, as that known as the "Slips," Black's Point road. The time to complete same was ten weeks— it has now exceeded seventeen weeks, and on many occasions I have seen only two and sometimes three men, working on a contract which ought not to have less than twelve men on to ensure the specifications being carried out in their entirety. The loss to the public can hardly bo estimated, as I can, without fear of contradiction, state that wheel as well as horse traffic is more than double that on the Greymouth and Reefton road. We have coal coining down from Murray and Lankey's Creeks ; goods going up to the various storekeepers and mines from town ; machinery daily in transit to the different mines, and a continuous stream of foot-passengers, who cannot possibly get along without the greatest inconvenience. There is no other means of ■wheel traffic, either going or coming, except through what is called the " sluice bo*" and that, even when the river is low, is most dangerous. It is a shame and a disgrace to us a community, that one of the main arteries to the principle ingress and egress of a flourishing mining district should be literally blocked for seventeen weeks, because sufficient hands were not at once put on to carry out a small contract. — I am,- <fee, A SITFK£HEB. Reefton, 7th September, 1882.