THE NO-CONFIDENCE DEBATE.

Evening Star, Issue 3004, 4 October 1872, Page 4

THE NO-CONFIDENCE DEBATE.

We continue Mr Ormond’s speech MESSRS SHEEHAN AND GILLIES ANSWERED, Both honorable members, in referring to this work, said that the cost of operations at Fort Britomart was excessive, and the honorable member for Rodney said they were 40 per cent, above the rates which it could be let for. These works were let by Messrs Brogden, not I believe by public tender, but every piece of work to be done has to be submitted to the Government negineer in charge, and de has to certify that the prices agreed to are fair and reasonable : that has been done in this case, and there were seven offers for that particular work, the contract for which was let with the assent of the Government engineer, In this ease Messrs Brogden have followed the practice they adopt with regard to all their works ; they do not, as a rule, advertise for tenders, but let contracts under the system of private offer, A charge of the kind brought amounts almost to a charge of dishonesty on the part of the contractors—that they let the woik at prices higher than they could have done it for. Such an accusation is very improper. The honorable member for Kodue. went into detail; he said the contractor for the Kaipara Railway was getting work, of the same class as Fort Britomart works, done at l()d per yard, and, therefore, Is Gd, the ratp paid at Fort Britomart, was altogether too high. The contractor for the Kaipara line, no doubt, gets some of bis work done at 10d p-r >ard ; but 1 have obtained the prices paid all through, and 1 find that is his cheapest rate, while the average price is Is Gd; so that the highest rate must be over Is Gd per yard. There is nothing difficult in the Kaipara work—it is simply earthwork ; whereas in Fort Britomart it is rock, which, although not hard, requires blasting. The Engineer-in-Chief tells me that work of that kind is worth at least Gd a yard more than the Kaipara work j so that in reality the rates paid on the Kaipara Railway are higher than those paid on Fort Britomart, I come now to the Kaipara Railway, which on two occasions the honorable member for Auckland City West Fas held up to the House as one of the works in respect to which has been committed one of the greatest crimes in the way of maladministration of which the Government has been guilty in the Province of Auckland, and a contrast has been drawn between the management of the General Government and that of the Provincial Government in regard to railways. We have heard the statement of the Provincial authorities, ami I wish the House now to li.dvii to what I can show of their management as compared with ours, ‘ihe honorable member for Rodney ..aid that without an iigimer-Mi-( luef and without a staff, the Provincial authorities started this railway i i seven mon'hs, seventeen miles out of Auckland, and under a contract that included everything. I have heard, however, that the Superintendent of Auckland, in 1870, had surveys and estimates and was very proud of having Therefore the assertion that all this work was clone in seven months is not exactly correct, as the surveys had been made previously. Mr Gillies : It is a mistake; that was a different survey altogether. Mr Ormond : It was a survey of the Kaipara Railway, so there must have been two surveys. One of the sins wc have been most abused for is, that we have surveyed lines of railway twice over ; but wo now find the Provincial authorities have done the same. At all events, what the honorable member slud about starting this railway in seven mouths is not correct. When I was in Auckland we took over the Kaipara Railway from the Provincial Government, and I inspected he work which was going on, and found it satisfactory; bub this contract, about which so much has been said, has a p culianty about it, which, 1 think the Hons-- w'li agree wi‘h me, shows that it would hj (Vo been much butter if the Provincial Government who entered into it had r- coived better professional advice than they did fur that compact is now m a very difficult portion. The honorable member for Ro.mey made much of their having been aide to dispense with an Engineer-in-Chief, but what did officers they employed do ? They absolutely sent home an opder for suclj an extraordinary description of i ail, that the manufacturers in England refused to execute it, and this was not known until a few mouths ago, long after the General Government had taken over the lipe ; then, when the rails were expected tp arrive, and were wanted op the works,--wn heard of the wretched mess that had been made in ordering them. There is an instance showing the absolute necessity of the advice of a capital officer such as the Engineer-ip. Chief. But the Kaipara rail difficulty is not yet over, and the works are likely to be in. definitely delayed, for I was recently in. formed by the responsible party for the contract that these rails were not to be sent out whilst iron maintains its present price. He holds that rails were only L 5 10s a ton when the order the Provincial Council obliged him to send W‘ iff honie j that ft is owipg to tfieip mistake in requiring him to get an impossible article that the rails were not bought at that price : and contends that, now rails arc Ll4 a ton, he is entitled [.o wait until the price of iron goes down again. He distinctly in. termed me that be had directed the rails not to be purchased until they came down again to a reasonable price. That is a specimen of the contracts m:u|e by the Provincial Government of Auckland. r lhe next point to which I shall refer is the statement that there were no disputes under the Provincial ma- , nagement, but that a mouth after the General Government took over the works disputes began, The honorable member for Auckland City West and the honorable member for Rodney both held up the Kaipara Bridge as an instance of our mischievous interference, I wo dcr that the honorable member for Auckland city West, with the great general ability which he has for administration, should not have known more of what he was talking about; for 1 find that in this matter the General Government has been perfectly right and he has been perfectly wrong. I may say the same of the honorable member ior Rodney, to whose district the railway leads, and who claims to be its parent. (To h<- eonlhmeA.)