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Lyttelton Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6492, 17 December 1881, Page 4

Till acceptance of a local ooal oom* pany's tender (or the supply of ooal to the Colonial railway* daring the year 1882, is of coarse a subject of congratulatioa. Thai the Westport Cot* liery Company should he in a position to supply 30,000 tons more cheaply than all its competitors, home and foreign, la matter for rejoicing to its shareholders, and, in a less degree, to the New Zealand public. The former will he more than pleased that this stroke of good fortune should haveoome about at the time the Australian and Now Zealand share markets have ex* pressed their emphatic approval of their prospectus. The public will, of coarse, in a general way, bo glad to learn that a local company has beaten the field. It will, however, naturally be anxious to know who were the competitors. In the matter of railway construction we are always favoured with the publication in the G&mtk of the names of all tenderers, successful and unsuccessful. In every cane we Irani bow Messrs Fyner, Cutts, and Co, seemed the Job, and how many others, including Messrs Crab and Allsweep, whose names figure last on the list, have failed. This practice ia wholesome. There is an air of daylight and aecurity about it which commands the public confidence. If what the Civil Service Commission told us about other matters of railway contract, be true, the same thing cannot be said of them as of the construction contracts. We hope that the ooal tenders will bo dealt with after the wholesome method. The public is entitled to know who were the tenderer* against the Westport Company, at what price they tendered, and what kind of coal they were prepared to deliver. Last year we saw a list of all successful ten* deters for the supply of coats of various sorts for public purposes. But we never saw any list of those who were nosuo* oessful. This was, we are witling to believe, because the business of the public ooal supply wav In Its infancy. Now that things have settled down Into, wo hope, a good groove, we expect to get all the necessary Information. If that information ia not published, the

nubile will bare mmn to wonder why not, and a right, which will probably bo exercised. to «*lt.