TENDERS FOR LIGHT RAILWAYS.

Evening Star, Issue 3524, 9 June 1874, Page 2

TENDERS FOR LIGHT RAILWAYS.

, The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the acceptance of tenders for light railways and the expenditure on the road from Tokomairiro to Tuapeka, have reported at some length. The substance of that report is as follows : 1. Before calling for tenders, the Executive agreed that the contracts should be for cash payments, and the usual course of procedure with regard to the reception and opening of the tenders was followed. They were opened in the presence of his Honor the Superintendent. Mr iurnbull, and Mr Bastings. After being opened, they were forwarded to the Provincial Engineer who returned them to the Executive ip Dr Webster s presence, shortly before being accepted. The engineer and Mr Bastings did not consult together on the subject. The . Committee are of opinion that no blame or imputation of irregularity can be attached to any member of the Executive in regard to the dealing with the tenders : the usual course ap pears to have been pursued.” A special meeting of Executive was hurriedly called, and the tenders accepted by the Executive without any question as to _ the amount, although that W Tl fa n 1U excess of the amount appro«f d- T £ e Com “ ut ta« consider that, under the circumstances, the accepting of the tenders should not have been proceeded with especially as the financial year had closed, and the P Coum ml was to meet shortly after the date of accepte£d of the last financial year (1873) the habihties on the Tokomairiro Y a nd LawSZT'f***'** L7 ’ 067 178 8d < meet VaH.L 1 ? 6 ?~°o™ cial Engineer placed upon the Estimates L 7,800. The estimate by the Tolmie Government for that road was L 8.800: but or ® *n® Estimates were submitted, a dissolution took place, On the meeting of i

the new Council, before a new Executive was formed, conditions were stipulated for as to a remodelling of the Estimates in regard to roads and works. Dr Webster and Mr iSliand making that a condition of their taking office. On the formation of the Turnbull Government, the Estimates were reconstructed, brought down, and passed the Council in July, 1873, the vote taken for the road Tokomahiro to Tuapeka, being L 5,000. Dr Webster and Mr Shand have stated that they were not made aware of the liabilities then ex- . isting. On October 30, 1873, a further liability was contracted of L 879 15s ; and during the year there was an additional sum expended, according to the engineer’s evidence, of about L 593. In the beginning of November, it would appear that the auditor drew the attention of the district engineer to the fact that the vote, Tokomairiro to Tuapeka, was - exceeded by vouchers presented for payment. This resulted in a comparison of books, when it was found that a sum of L 1,137 (the vouchers for which had been passed by the engineer, and charged in his books against the vote of 3.872-3) had not passed the Treasury prior to March 31,1873, and this sum therefore was actually paid out of, and charged against the vote of 1873-4. The liabilities authorised by the Executive therefore amounted to L 10,211 13s 4d, including a sum of L6OO proposed by the Provincial Engineer to meet contingencies. On the auditor drawing attention to the state of the vote, the engineer recommended to the Government that L 1,200 voted under the same sub-division to road Tokomairiro to Teviot should be transferred to vote road Tokomairiro to Tuapeka, because the money was not sufficient for the work for which it was asked, and also because the engineer did not think it could be judiciously expended during that financial year. The recommendation appears to have been brought before his Honor, who, on being satisfied that the money had been already spent, supported the transfer at a meeting of Executive on 6th January. Present: His Honor, Mr Turnbull, Mr Bastings, and Mr Turton ; Mr Turnbull dissenting from the decision. The Committee are of opinion that sufficient care was not shown in re-constructing the Estimates of the Government formed last session, more consideration apparently having been given to the forming of a Government than to providing for the contracts at that time authorised and in progress of being carried out. In regard to the discrepancy of L 1,137 between the Auditor’s books and the Engineer’s books, that is accounted for by the fact that vouchers that had passed out of the Engineer's hands prior to the close of the financial year had not reached the Auditor’s hands till after the close of that year, and consequently became a charge against the year 1873-74. It appears to the Committee that this discrepancy therefore arose from a faulty system, and is not chargeable against any individual The evidence submitted to the Committee proves . conclusively that the necessity for the transfer of L 1,200 from vote, road Tuapeka to Teviot, to vote, road Tokomairiro to Tuapeka, arose from no provision having been made to meet the vouchers which had been passed from the engineer’s department chargeable against the vote of a previous year, and that the transfer was recommended by the district engineer to meet that sum. In regard to the road Tuapeka to leviot, the district engineer appears to have reported that the work intended to be carried out by the vote of L 1,200 could not be carried out judiciously, or at what he considered a reasonable amount. The practice of transferring sums from one vote to another appears to have been a usual practice, but it is one that the committee are of opinion should only be exercised in very urgent cases. The committee feel deeply impressed with the conviction that a system providing a better check than that now in operation should be instituted, whereby a monthly return of the state of the votes, in regard to actual payments and liabilities on roads and works, should be laid before the Executive. The Committee fully approve of the prpposal of the Government to provide the Provincial Engineer with more office assistance: and it is due to that officer to record the testimony of all the witnesses examined, that during the past year he has been very short-handed for the work that he had to overtake. The Committee regret that matters of a purely personal character, which transpired in Executive meetings,. should have been made the subject-matter of discussion in the Provincial Council. The Committee are of opinion that there is nothing in the evidence to show that any individual member of the Executive had in any improper way permitted any unauthorised expenditure on the road from Tokomairiro to 1 uapeka.