PUBLIC MEETING.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 293, 9 May 1879, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

l Pursuant to a requisitiofhjjresented to .tlje Mayor, a public rneejting-was Tuesday evening last to consider of the Borough Council in the> matter of the acceptance of a tender for work in Balguerie street. Considefring the short notice that had been given, there was a very fair attendance. ,; - - The Mayor commenced the proceedings by reading the requisition and his reply thereto, convening the meeting. The former ran as follows :— . "To His Worship the Mayor,—We, the undersigned burgesses of the Borough of Akaroa respectfully request your Worship to call a public meeting of the ratepayers of the Borough, to enable you to explain to them the reason the Council had at their last meeting for accepting an informal tender at a considerable amount over a formal one, for certain works advertissd to be done in Balguerie street, —We are, respectfully, William Sims, Henry Qc Watkins, and 27 other names." His Worship said their first business would be to elect a chairman. On the motion of Mr A. I. M'Gregor, Mr J. D. Garwood was voted to the chair. The Chairman said ho hoped the dis-' cussion would be conducted fairly and temperately, and that nothing would be said which would give rise to unneighborly sentiments or ill feeling. As the name of Mr W. Sims appeared first on the requisition calling the meeting, he would call upon that gentleman to address the meeting. Mr Sims said it was an ungracious task to call in question the-■-actions of their representatives, but on some occasions it was ne.cessary to do so. He thought this ' was an occasion of that , l riatnre> The speaker then proceeded to detail theeir--cumstances connected with , the. tender, , quoting from the reports" of the" Council's proceedings which have appeared in this ' journal. It # aJ> t pe:ared that y% April■■■? two 1 tenders were'received and.'opened for,tins : work.' Their 1 eohsi<ler&tiob vMs pOßtjumeU ; till nest meeting.:: -At this lysstnjeeijng , *V third tender was' received' i:a,d accepted. He" thought , ■ that circ'timstaiice- requirecl' explanation. If the explanation <vere sa-:.;tiefaptftry^-no; oiiejwould:be betterplaas^d than himself. At the conclusion, of Mr--Sims' speech,. the Chairman asked if Mr it. Gr.*'Watkina were present, as he observed that gentleman's name next on the requisition. It appeared that Mr Watkins was not in the hall. : U--\ .'■>■•■■' ■ Mr O'Reilly was under the impression that they were there to hear soma, explanation from his Worship and councillors.

The Mayor said that what Mr Sims had stated waa correct, but was not all that had taken place. He considered Mr Jones' tender wasjausLsJ#»«l e g a l as any of the olfcers. ff'Cr principle that it fenythin£ : 'wds":doriei>j T phe Council op;poeed to 'tffif/w\shes~tff «he burgesses, it ■Should be&Wthem. His rea.spns for iprQpdsUTg the acceptance of the Isrider ip, qujestion\were grounded on the engin,9el l ß,efltmiat3B,'dt>poßt. He would ask Jois'WoifsjJrp the amount of tnat estimate waST * ■ The MayorV£32s./ Cr Meech : AsTthey heard, the engineer had the r work iavur of; afpcfptjingj? tlie J loVesr te4rders\ "" Either contractors COUld not do the work, or the engineer was .not-worth-hie ealt, :-If a man took a'con=' tract and lost by it, the loss was not confftfed to him, but everyone in the commariily lost by it. ■Mr Sims thought it was not ,: the amooir of the tender that was called in question), but .its informality. j Cγ in rising to address them', said he felt somewhat nervous. He was not accustomed t<r addressing, ( without a hammer in his hanJU On April 2, two tenders forMisWdrfc"came before the Council: On account of thi> amount of their liabilities, it was unanimously agreed to postpone the consideration of these tenders till their next meeting. At jlhat meeting-they heard of of £250 froth the Ashburtoiv $esepvesJind» consequently thought grron' with tlie work ;- AtAthts' qgtagfe another tender made its parHcularly 6T"Ene~clerk wlien t"fiat tendefr liad,been received. The clerk replied that - he had cleared the letter-box at half-paat seven on the night of their previous nieetling, arid that it wal nol ijhen/jin the On the following morning Had found ijt ! there. "He (Or" Bridge) then "moved that the tender be- not received., , was not seconded/ Cr M^efclithen , that if be' accepted; i r 'Hei 'rrioVe'd that 'this lowest tender; be .-accepted. • Witl|t regarjl to Cr" Meech's "remarks as to accept-? ing tenders too 'hjs r ; was that the lowest tender should be accepted, unless there were anything again4t the tenderer—unless he had a. black mark against his name. 'V.'' ""' ' J ' S ' : " J j Cr Penlington said that ; Br&ge ha<jl ; informed them correctly pi -what takei place at the' : riVeetirig' at" wjfffcfi "he (the speaker) had been present. c rA.tj.that meet ing only two tenders were received. could not Imagine haw aTthijd-.cduld have been introduced;-, \, As.far ras.the of accepting the lowest tender went, thought that in all fcas.es/'the.jow.efej tendeir should be accepted where nothing wafe recorded against the coiitri'etop-fiii incomf petency or bad work. He was very that tlie Council Before all tliings,' fairness should: be con[ ;sidered, , , ; M Mr!A. I M'Gregor had never heard a more lame attempt at self-excuse than ;they , had' rjust 'listeSheJi to"/ The whole thing lay "in a'nutshell. There were _ twp tenders before the Coimei»"^li»-consider! ation of these tenders was postponed for financial reasons. Afterwards they heard of Mr Jones going down behind the Councillors, and then his tender is Cr Meech had laid great stress on the Engineer's report. At a later meeting he had not appeared to believe in these Engineer's reports. Now he appeared to have great consideration for the Engineef and his fellow-man, lie wanted to know, the reason ,w,hy ?£GS had been, given to Mr j|ne.6. j|e\:bnsidered.} [ tliatjtiier.e muat Jbav.ei)een some, other reasori thaji Tpfcilani thropy. He had a great respect for his " W&rslftp/but he thought he would have actedibetterfand more in accordance with precedent if he had given his casting vote in sucTi a'nifiririer "asr ; would ;have left the matter open for further consideration. ; "r-jjy • Wig^s^ 11 two totally- separate before them, "Which. have] mixed up 'together! '.Thgre 'was Jirst*t'he_ receiving the tender after"the ot'tier'tende'rs had been considered,'and ■next'the-'accepting .of .that tender when-it was thirty per cent higher than before the Council.: He thought it was better such matters should be ventilated at a meeting such } as; this than commented on at street corners and hotel bars. He felt sure that no one in the room thought that Councillors had been actuated by any unworthy motives, but if they did not know the men, the circumstances on the face of looked suspicious. Members of a' public body should be, like CaesarV'wife, 'above suspicion. He never rememborfed the Koad Board to have thrown ouf the. lowest, tender, unless they had something Against the contractor. If it was wrong to'"acpept a ; tender which, was £100 too' low, it nmsti -be equally wrong .to. do so with -orie_-w.hich was £60 under the estimate. i After a few remarks from the;-Mayor, ; Cr Meech said he did not- mind jbeing twitted, and could enjoy a laugh so |aised, ; but he objected to being misrepresented. The last speakers had misrepresented him, and the facts had been misrepresented in ; the Mail. He must say he did not like it. As to the reception of this tender, five of the Councillors were responsible for that, for no one opposed its reception except Cr Bridge. The Mayor had been blamed for the manner in which he had given his casting vote, but this privilege was conferred on him by Act of Parliament, and; not by a public meeting , . As a raatter of; fact only one of the tenders had been sent in in proper time. ; Mr Moroy, as one who h-tl experience in tenders and tenrtarinvr, thought this, matter was quite ■.mtsule the usiml course.; Hα considered that-no shadow -of -formality' or ordinary right had been observed in the; -matter. * I Mr A. I.' M'Gregor -hi'dl a : resoj'ution (to propose. He disclaimed any intention of imputing any but the most proper andj correct' iriotives. At the same time hei thought the present meeting would serve; in remind ■■thfct there was a; : trit>u,i\aL to wli^ch. they, \vere. responsible., Hβ' , \Vbuld "this"- .aieeting, : 'jiaving.heard the statements 01 hia Worsli'ip the Mayor and Ci-Meooh, in reference! to : the' letting;of the Balguerie ' jnafcion ; : contract, regrets to r,ecord the fact -thatttheir explanation is satisfactory to the burgesses present at this'meet-, ing, and respectfully request the Council to reconsider the matter," , Mr Meech would like to know when this resolution was drawn up. He had-not seen Mr MGregor write anything Since the meeting commenced. : ; Mr P. O'Beilly seconded the resolutio , 3 He was sorry to feel himself compelled r a do so, as he'considered it a vote of censu

on those Councillors who voted for the ( motion. (Mr M"Gregor : No, no). The Chairman said that ventilating these matters would do an immense good, more good, in in ■ general were dippopeo" tpthrnk.' Hβ put motion,,when 18 or 1? hands were held Tv- in tlie affirmative, and none in the negative. He declared ■ the'motion carried unanimously, : and after thia usual compliment to the j Chair, the Meeting separated': , • ". \ i