Further CORRESPONDENCE Between Captain Daldy and Superintendent Williamson concerning Harbor Piles.

Auckland Examiner, Volume 1, Issue 51, 3 December 1857, Page 3

Further CORRESPONDENCE Between Captain Daldy and Superintendent Williamson concerning Harbor Piles.

Superintendent's Office, Auckland, Nov. 26, 1857. Sir, —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of date November 23rd instant relative to the piles supplied by the Contractor for the Harbor Works, and append for your information a copy of a Minute made thereupon by the Superintending Enginer,— Mr. Reader Wood. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, J. Williamson, Superintendent. William C Daldy, Esq JTt-rtuZe. I have measured the length and centre diameters of each of the 97 piles delivered by Mr. Cochrane. They were measured in the presence of Mr. Cadman, who assisted, Mr. Cochrane, the Contractor, and Mr. Stone, the owner of the Emily Alison. The measurements were accepted by both Mr. Cochrane and Mr. Stone as the basis.of the charge for freight : good evidence, 1 presume, that the measurements were carefully and fairly made. The mean centre measurement of the 97 piles was 144 inches. I did not measure the butts of all of tjiem, but if the mean butt measurement of the 97 bears the same proportion to the mean butt measurement of the 57 as the mean centre measurements bear to each other, an average butt measurement of 17 inches will be the result. According to the original Specification the mean butt measurement (excepting the 50 feet piles, which,in accordance with Mr. Cochrane’s Contract, are to be taken as originally specified) is 19-1- inches. The first instalment, therefore, of these piles, in which nearly all the smaller ones have been delivered, is within 24 inches of the mean measurement of the whole as required by the Specification, and 4 an inch ia excess of the mean as required by the Contract. From the sample of piles that has been delivered, and from information I have received respecting the piles now at Hokianga ready for shipment, I have no doubt that the average

size and weight of the whole will exceed that which is required by the original Specification. Under any circumstances it is very unfair to judge of an average of a whole contract for 900 piles by the mean measurement of the first instalment, which eontaihs nearly all the smaller piles that are required for the work. [True Copy.] (Signed) Reader Wood. Nov. 24, 1857. Auckland, Nov. 27, 1857. (To his Honor the Superintendent) Sir, —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 26th, and in reply will only trouble you with two or three remarks on the Report enclosed, which, I am quite free to say, I cannot understand. Ist., Mr. Cochrane’s satisfaction is not surprising. Mr. Stone’s depended on the mode in which freight was to be paid, if by the running foot the smallness in diameter would not concern him. 2ndly, In the published Specification no mention is made of mean measurement. It says a fixed number of piles of certain dimensions are to be delivered. Brdly, When I wrote you I had not, nor have now, any knowledge of the piles at Ilokianga that are to come, or of the time the Contract compels them to be delivered When I first addressed you on this subject, as the person holding control of the expenditure of Public Funds, it was not with the wish to lead into a correspondence on the subject but as a citizen to put you iu possession of facts that can at any time be substantiated, which I believed gave sufficient evidence that Public Money was being wasted, and would have induced you to make public enquiry into this matter. However, if you are satisfied no wrong has been done, I have no desire to press the matter further on your attention. I have the honor to. be, Sir, Your obedient servant, William C. Daldy.