Correspondence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 464, 15 April 1857, Page 8

Correspondence.

TotteMditwofthelsytteMon.Tinies. 1 Sir,—-An opiniop/is generally prevalent here that the expenditure on the public works has not been conducted with that regard to economy , which the Government are bound to observe m

dealing with the public money. Private employers complain that the standard of wages^ is kept above its proper level by the excessive

rates which are paid by the .Government. There are good grounds for this opinion, and for these complaints. 'It is well known that the public works are generally preferred to private employment ; it is as well known that higher wages are earned by the. men employed on those works than could be earned in private service. It is superfluous to say that this-should not be; it is unnecessary to argue that the Government does a serious injury, a serious wrong <ip private employers in buying up labour, at excessive prices. It would be an evil if no roads were made; it is, if possible, a greater evil when the consequences of making them are such as have been alluded to.. • . - . The great reduction in the prices', of agricultural produce which has lately taken place, renders it necessary that, in the agricultural districts at least, employers should offer lower rates of wages than they have hitherto'paid; they cannot pay the old rates, and they must either get their work done cheaper or not do it at all. It is to be hoped, earnestly hoped, that the Government will not overlook the altered condition of things; that they will take care not to stand in the way of that adaptation of labour to capital which the present circumstances of the country imperatively call for.

But it may be said that the Government generally endeavour to get the public works done at the lowest possible prices. Tenders are publicly invited, and the lowest tender; taken. Is it quite certain that the lowest tender always representssthe lowest sum for which a particular work can be executed ? It is quite certain that as a.general rule it does not. The plan of tender may be good on principle, and in large communities, where there is competition, it may, and perhaps generally does ascertain the minimum value of .whatever is tendered for. But there..is .no such thing as competition among those who are accustomed to do road works in this province, it is combination not competition. Instead of different men tendering against each other, it oftener happens that an arrangement is made beforehand between a few men in the neighbourhood of the proposed work, who alone care to' go in for it, that some one of them shall tender; and shall divide the work when he has contracted for it among his friends. Now, it is nonsense to call this competition. The Government must know this as well as any one of the public, and yet the farce is continued. AH works are still done and apparently are intended 'to be done by contracts made upon accepted tenders. It is impossible to understand why the Government will persist in adhering to apian, of the unBoundness of which there cannot be two opini- j ons. If their own experience is" insufficient, why not have some regard to the experience of other and older communities in New Zealand. Ihe authorities -at Wellington execute their road works by day labour, excepting now and then a more particular job, involving it may be artificers' labour, or presenting some special features which warrant a departure from a general rule; and they do this, not arbitrarily, but because they have tried other modes, that of contracts among them, and have found them insufficient, and they adhere to the day labour method because they have learnt that it is the best. Mr. Godley, when making the Lincoln Road and North Road some years ago, adopted the plan, of working gangs under overseers, instead of contracts, because he found that tenders were valueless as a means of ascertaining the cheapest rates at which, works could be done, and there is not the slightest- doubt that more work was done in this way for the money spent, than could; have been .obtained if the contract mode had bean followed. Why,' then, does not the Government of this province do this or something like it. They need not fear that in adopting a new plan they could do worse than they have hitherto done. They cannot possibly get less work done by a given expenditure of money. There is no- risk attending any new mode of procedure, something may be gained certainly, nothing can be lost. Another point may also be worth alluding to. Not only -would the public works be done less expensively by working parties under overseers than they are now done, but there would always be a staff of men who could be sent at any moment where their services were most wanted. They could be concentrated upon some particular work, or distributed in twos and threes over a considerable length of road, as circumstances called for. Small working parties employed in the winter months,

matters, would prevent damages ■to repair which SniSf """""ftr 1™1 would «wfcl*en times as much as would be spent in' preventing it; the roads would be kept passable; the public convesavecf and the public money I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 9ft Ap ril , m • FAEMEE-