WATERWORKS CONTRACT INVESTIGATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5241, 10 January 1878, Page 3

WATERWORKS CONTRACT INVESTIGATION.

The committee meeting yesterday afternoon at three o’clock. There were present—Councillors Hunter (chairman), Fisher, Macdonald, and Logan, James Lockie, contractor, in answer to the Chairman stated that he put in a tender of about £22,000 for the Waterworks contract. He had reason to believe that he would have to bring the clay for puddling and the shingle for concrete from a distance. He was told by Mr. Marehant that he would not be allowed to use the material on the spot. ■ It would have entailed an extra cost of 3s. 6d. per yard on 9230 yards of clay, and 2350 yards of concrete at 15s. It was also stated that to increase the size of the reservoir it would be necessary to take the stuff from the bed of thereservoir, and not from the sides. That would increase the cost considerably. By Councillor Macdonald : All the work above the ground appeared to be in acoordauoe witii the specifications. There is a very large amount of work yet to be done. In his opinion it would take about £ISOO or £2OOO to finish the job. If the clay were tempered, as in briokinaking, it would do as well as putting it through the pugmill. Councillor Macdonald stated the clay not punned had been well mixed. This was contradicted by Councillor Fisher, who stated that he had often visited the works, and found that the clay was being put in without mixing or punning. By Councillor Fisher : Irrespective of the quality of the clay used, it would make a great difference in cost putting it through the pugmill. The concrete and the clay would make a difference iu the tender of £3380. He did not think by the specifications he would have been entitled, if he had been the successful tenderer, to have charged extra for removing the stuff from the front of the wall. But if the engineer had told him that he could use the material from the sides, and afterwards he had to take it from the bed of the stream, be would have been entitled to charge extra. Punning the clay would have made a difference of between fifteen and eighteenpence per yard on 47,000 yards. That was the difference it would have made in his tender. The work, with the utmost despatch, could not be completed within two months. By the Chairman: It was not in his opinion a contract where there should be a large amount of extras. The specifications appeared to be very complete. £ISOOO for extras would be a very large percentage on a contract for £17,000. Thomas Hewitt, a foreman at the "Waterworks, employed by the Corporation, stated in answer to Councillor Logan that the pipes arrived by the Taranaki four mouths ago, and the laying of them might have been commenced three mouths ago, but a commencement had only been made six weeks ago. He thought the work might have been completed by this time. Bv the Chairman: To the best of his recollection Mr. Marehant visited the works three or four times a week during the laying of the pipes. He thought the work could be advanced sufficiently to supply the city with water in a fortnight. The Chairman said that he had waited until all the members of the committee were present to inform them that he had received a note from a gentleman connected with the Press, in which he complained of something which had taken place at the previous day’s meeting. He (the Chairman) did not propose to read the letter, or take any action, as he conceived that his attention should have been drawp to the circumstance at the time it occurred. He also intimated that Mr. Marchant had declined to furnish the committee with a copy of his appointment by the City Council under the Waterworks Act. Colin McDonald attended to produce the papers from which he copied the items for extras into his note-book. He stated that he had lost many of the papers. He could only produce one of the memoranda. By the Chairman : He copied from the memoranda once a month into the note-book. Councillor Fisher asked was it not strange that the dates should appear iu the book and not in the memoranda? The witness replied that he never thought he should be called upon to give evidence on the subject. Had ha known that he would have been more particular. By Councillor Macdonald : He had been only two working days away from the Waterworks, that being on the occasion of his visiting the Wairarapa. He bad obtained leave from Mr. Marehant. • While the concrete work was going on he never left the works. He never was drunk on the works, nor had he beendrunk iu thecityof Wellingtouforfourteen months. He had been eleven years under Mr. Blackett, and had received a letter of recommendation from that gentleman. The committee then adjourned till Friday afternoon at three o’clock.