COUNTY COUNCIL CONTRACTS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1180, 15 September 1882, Page 2

COUNTY COUNCIL CONTRACTS.

[To the Editor Inangahua Times.]

Sir, — Every community has a right to demand of all its • agents an account of their conduct, and to impartially criticise t'.icir dealings with the public trust, and I most respectfully beg to call the attention of the public in general and our agents, (viz) the County Council in particular, to the abortive manner in which the Black's Point road 1 contract is carried out, and how the benefit and convenience of the public is so shamefully ignored. In the first place the contract for said road was let to the lowest tender, a policy adopted by the Council which I do not consider a judicious one as a rule. However, if contractor will tender for work in a hap- . hazard sort of a manner without counting the cost and bind themselves to fulfill all

M*w«ttpeuflfrd*eonditi6TT5 v relfttivftrr'SUch works, it is the duty of the Council, in justice to the ratepayers, and other contractors who tendered for the same work to insist on said conditions being fully carried out. But instead of that, the conditions are utterly ignored by both contractor and Council. If 20 men can do the same amount of work in one day as one man can do in 20 days, surely the difference in time would be a financial benefit or saving to the contractor— at least I always found it in all my experience that time was equivalent to money. lam quite satisfied that the accepted tender for the work was too low, and I would not wish to see any person toil without fair remuneration. Yet, if men will err in their calculations, and by their own acts place themselves in financial difficulties, that is no reason why the public should suffer or be inconvenienced thereby. The contractor Avar bound to have the work completed in a certain time ; failing to do so, the time was extended, which in itself wa3 just and ri,'ht, providing the contarctor had complied with tho conditions of contract. Did lie (the contractor) employ sufficient labour to complete the work in {lie specified time? or did he employ snllieient labor to complete the work during th« extension of timegranted ? Did the Council grant thu contractor com-

peneation for traffic, or is the Council going to grant compensation for loss on contract. These are tilings the ratepayers have a right to know, as all moneys paid, whether rightfully or wrongfully, comes out of their pockets. I am of ' opinion myself that it would be more economical, and more satisfactory to tho public if the Council did not in .ill cases accept the lowest tender. They shonld to a great extent be guided by the estimate of their engineer, or some practical person who could form a correct estimate of the work required to be done. For 14 years I have followed contracting and letting contracts, and I invariably found that some tendered exorbitantly high, and others absurdly low. But I always made it a rule to accept the teuder which came nearest to my own, or some other practical man's estimate that I might refer to, and always found the system to turn out satisfactorily, ami feel convinced that if the Council adopted tho same system it would prove more satisfactory to all concerned. Ido ,not, mean to ascribe any other motive to the Council in letting work to the lowest tender than that of trying to get the work done for the least money possible. But experience ought to have taught them ere this that the lowest tenders are not always the cheapest, bi»t the dearest and most unsatisfactory in the end, a fact- which .the Council themselves must be aware of, and I thinkj the Council would do right by altering the rule adopted by them in accepting the lowest tender, and be guided henceforth by previous «xperietvstty^arid use inore^ discretion as to the legitimate value of the work tendered for. * I am, &c,. • OIJSERVEK, Reefton^ September 11th, 1882.