COUNTY ENGINEER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 203, 28 June 1878, Page 2

COUNTY ENGINEER.

To the Editor of the Akaroa Mail.

Siu, —I hear from good authority that the appointment of Mr Brown, C.E., as Engineer to the Akaroa County Council, has fallen through, that gentleman having failed to fulfil the conditions of his appointment with regard to certification. If this is so, I opine the Council will lose no time in appointing his successor, and it is with regard to this that I venture to make a few remarks, it' you will kindly accord me the necessary space.

When applications for the appointment of Engineer to the Akaroa County Council were requested by advertisement in the public Press, the possession of a certificate was madfi a sine qua non, and it was with no small amount of astonishment that the district generally received the news of the appointment of a gentleman who had not this qualification. I venture to think that I am not interpreting the motives of the Council wrongly in ascribing three weighty arguments for their action in this matter— firstly, that all the applications received were from uncertificated men, and on that account equally faulty as regarded the conditions of appointment; secondly, the Council's laudable desire to lose no time in obtaining the services of an official, whose presence was urgently required in the district'; and, lastly, the saving of further expense. I, for one, condemned the appointment at the time as irregular, and, to a certain extent, unfair to the other applicants, as they should have been j also given a certain time in which to become certificated, when the applications could have been considered again. I merely refer to this because it illustrates what has ever been my experience, namely, that irregularity in the conduct of business of public bodies invariably brings its own result, and is bound, sooner or later, to bear its own fruit, as it has in the present case, where, after all this time has elapsed, the Council is still without an 'Engineer, the district has never received the benefit of his services, and important works are being too long delayed in consequence. But, when the date arrived which was first appointed for Mr Brown, the successful applicant, to prove himself certificated, and so to ratify his appointment, and when that gentleman had failed so to do, I consider the Council was guilty of more than irregularity in extending that probationary period, as it might be called, instead of at once declaring the appointment cancelled, and calling for fresh applications. There was a blind partiality displayed here, and a disposition to give any amount of license to the gratification of a whim, which was not calculated ro redound to the credit of that body, and I am very glad it has not done so.' At the time that the applications were considered, among the applicants was a gentleman, for many years resident in our midst, of long standing in his profession as a Civil Engineer and Surveyor, of undoubted skill and ability, who had previously held" the position of District Engineer in this very district under the late Provincial Government, and who had therefore considerable local knowledge and experience. By an unfortunate

namely, the absence of the Chief Surveyor, this gentleman's certificate was not forwarded to him in time for the Council's meeting, but nevertheless he was to all intents and purposes then certificated. Long before, however, the date by which Mr Brown was to make himself equally qualified, the certificate was in this gentleman's possession, and the County Council was aware of the fact. Despite however, the claims of the certificated local professional man, and the benefit the district would be likely to receive from the appointment of a competent official having already a knowledge of the people and experience of the country, in the face of this the Council commits the irregular and unjust proceeding of giving Mr Brown, a stranger to the district, uncertiffcated, who has already failed in an engagement to the Council, and whose only recommendation was a slight reduction in Balary required, another chance! We seej now, how favoritism and blind'trust have been repaid, and I would suggest to the County Council the advisableness of looking nearer home, where as good metal, and far more trustworthy material, already tried, proved, and found sound and good, can bo obtained without 'loss of further time or money. ■ For the honor of the County Council, I trust there will be no more shuffling and putting oft; no more straining the point for personal liking or dieliking, to the detriment of the district and injustice of individuals, but that the right thing will be done. We have among us a duly qualified and certificated surveyor, and competent engineer. Why then ignore him, and seek outside ? .

Apologising for trespassing so long on your space, and upon mutter, too, foreign to my usual subject, I am, &c, yours.

BURGESS,