THE Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri TUESDAY, 9th JUNE, 1874.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1583, 9 June 1874, Page 246

THE Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri TUESDAY, 9th JUNE, 1874.

Scme little light has' broken in upon the system pursued in Hawke's Bay in the matter of provincial tenders, in the late exposure in relation to the tender for printing. As yet, the matter has only been investigated by a provincial official—one of the gentlemen responsible for the alleged mistake, but even with this very imperfect examination, it. is admitted that the accepted tender was nearly £25 above the one rejected. It has been sought to be proved that the matter is one of great intricacy, and involves much " guess-work." On the contrary, any person acquainted with the ordinary requirements of the departments, with a knowledge of accounts, could estimate the total sum to be paid on either tender to within £2 or £3 on the year's work. That the Provincial Treasurer's re-calculation is seriously wrong may be seen by the fact that he brings the total of last year's printing, in all the departments, to £llO. We believe that an investigation of the provincial vouchers will show that more than double that sum has been paid during that time. To bring the discrepancy to so low a figure as £24 odd, the number of pages of Gazette, Council papers, and Acts required during the year has been greatly under-estimated. The original mistake, too, that one page, instead of forty, of electoral rolls would be required during the year, was not corrected in the re-calculation, and as the Times' tender for the rolls was 2s (3d per page below the Herald's, here, on one item only is a further discrepancy of £5 in favor of the rejected tender. Altogether, the Province this year will pay some £7O for the privilege of having its printing executed at the Herald office. The public are far from satisfied with the explanations offered. That given by his Honor the Superintendent was painfully lame —that by the successful tenderers doubly so. Perhaps it was their consciousness of this fact that induced them to hazard the groundless story of the " surreptitious arrangement." In justice to the public, no less than the unsuccessful tenderer, we claim a full and impartial investigation of the whole subject.

- We have to acknowledge the receipt from the publisher, Mr R. Burrett, of Wellington, of an excellentlithographed map of this Province, published under authority of the Provincial Government—scale, four miles to the inch. The map is drawn by Mr Koch, formerly of the Survey office, Napier, and is very complete, and exceedingly wellexecuted. Being published at a low price, it will doubtless command an extensive sale.

Mails for Poverty Bay and Auckland, per s.s. Pretty Jane, close at 8 a.m. to-day.