THE WESTERN RAILWAYS.

Evening Star, Issue 4072, 15 March 1876, Page 2

THE WESTERN RAILWAYS .

The following is the .text of .the*; petition adopted by the hj iverton Town Council ;—,i . . To the Hon; the Minister: of Public Works; - "Wellington. . Sir,—We, your memorialists, respectfully request your co-operation in obtaining, the .'intervention or the Colonial Government respecting abuses connected with the constructiondf public works' m the Southland distinct by the Provincial Oovwui ment of Otago. . ----- .y We] believe that a sefirbhintr- investigation• will* show that the specifications in the contract for railways do not contain schedule .prices for bridges; culverts, &c., or customiiry pbhalty clauses, and in that casp the public interest will have been sacrificed, or made subservient to the contractor’s will. It has been' "that the works have not been prosecuted as if - any intention existed 'of abiding,.' by /a contract time: toe completion, that the authority--of the. .engineers been openly, defied, and . fhat 'gn enormofis fraud has'been effSctSd on thCworking uUSses and provision dealers, by the decamping of middle men, sometimes i called Isub-centraorors, find .thereby leaving the contractor in a position to claim forthe work done; without the legal obligation of ■ paying for it.' . .

We furthermore priiy that action be taken to prevent settlement by arbitration, or any other private arrangement through which a public knowled;« of the origin o( the abuses may be ourked. •• It has so often.beeh boaating.y asserted by the party that David Proudfoot was the Government, as to. impress, the public mipd with grave suspicions, which have. only' been strengthened by the way he Ms been allowed to ignore constituted authority. If the contract provisions are shown to be so faulty as to leave no doubt between culpable negligence or criminal collusion, we strenuously urge upon their attention the impropriety of buy pereon or petsobs implicated heiagfantet entrusted with public interests. * We also beg to draw prominent attention to the fact that the entrance to the town of Biverton, will become absolutely incapable for traffic, through an unfinished work that the contractor is not canyiug out, himself, aba has prevented, the Government Engineers by force froto doing, ' ; In conclusion, we would draw particular attention to the huge amount of suspicious material that is being brought forward, as symptomatic of a valuation arrangement, which may prove more.profltable tothe contractor than creditable to the conservators of the public' estate. '