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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5013, 18 April 1877, Page 2

In a recent issue we published a letter from Mr. P. Johnston, in which he complained that a practical injustice had been done to him in the letting of the municipal contract for the supply of 10,000 yards of road metal. Mr. Johnston, as it seemed to us, made out a pretty good case for himself, and one demanding the attention of the City Council and the ratepayers. Mr. Johnston has addressed a letter to his Worship the Mayor on the question, in order that the Council may have an opportunity of reconsidering its action, and in the meantime we may point out how, the case seems to stand. In order that there may be no misconception about the matter, we print the specifications by which tenderers were to be guided. They are as follows : Road Metal, No. 1. Quantity. —The contractor will be required to deliver ten thousand cubic yards of road metal, broken to pass in any direction through a 2} inch ring, heaps to be well stacked before being measured. Quality.— The stone shall bo of the hardest blue rock, and quarried in tire Ngahauranga Gorge, at a bend in tlio road about sixty chains from Rutter’s Hotel, by the railway station. Delivery— The contractor shall deliver the stone and stack same after breaking. Ho will also bo required to deliver and break to specified gauge at least one thousand cubic yards monthly. Tile contractor must in his tender state the price per cubic yard for the stone broken and stacked ns specified, ’fenders to bo addressed “Tenders for Road Metal, No. 1,” and addressed to the Mayor and City Council. Security will bo required equal to onofitth of amount, and a deposit of fifty pounds will also bo required. . The Council will provide a place of deposit within half-a-mile radius of Town Clerk’s office. The Council are prepared to accept of an alternative offer for nietnl of same quality as samples broken and unbroken exhibited in Surveyor's Office ; to allow for preliminary works, such as opening of quarries, and five hundred cubic yards a sufficient supply for the first month after acceptance of tender. The amount necessary to bo deposited along with each tender shall bo fifty pounds sterling, either in cash or cross cheque. Any metal which may be objected to as not in terms of this specification, or not equal to samples, must bo immediately removed from the depot by, and at the expense of, the contractor. Now, from the above it will bo seen that whilst Ngahauranga stone was at first specified alternative tenders for supplying Kaiwarra stone were invited. It is admitted that Mr. J ohnston’s was the lowest tender. He tendered to supply Kaiwarra stone at 7s. Bd. per cubic yard, but as he agreed to supply 10,000 as per specification he absolutely embodied all that the Council desired. Mr. Makchant, City Engineer, at the Council' meeting pronounced decisively against Kaiwarra stone, Mr. Johnston’s tender was rejected, and a somewhat higher one from

Mr. Saunders was accepted. We believe that for the last two years the road metal for Wellington has been procured from Kaiwarra, Mr. Saunders being the contractor, and in his letter to the New Zealand Times Mr. Johnston stated that Mr. Charles McKirdy, representing himself as tho agent of Mr. Saunders, waited upon the proprietor of a quarry at Kaiwarra and made an offer o£ a cash royalty for permission to get the stone to supply his quarry with from the quarry in question. As this subject will we presume come up for discussion at the City Council in consequence of Mr. J ohnston’s letter, we will do no more at present than state the facts as they appear to us to exist, subject of course to correction, although, having carefully examined into all tho circumstances of the case, we do not apprehend any correction.