THE DOCK SITE.

NZ Truth, Issue 143, 14 March 1908, Page 1

THE DOCK SITE.

What's at the Bottom of the Barrack ?

There is at the present time a band of malcontents,.; or boodlers, oi.madmen. or sonietbihg who are bellowing thcit ftelly-'s out to bave the work on tha Clyde Quay dock stopped forthwith and somfc other site chosen for l.hj sick ship hospital. Just why these people are bucking against the ■picsent site is not quite apparent, umess they have some personal interest m the jnatter. No man with an atom of common sense would for one moment advocate that a site m the centre of the city should be civen up for one some miles away, and compensation of-, apythihg between £25.000 and £50,000 be paid 'to the contractors for chucking up the iob. li is like a man with a half-built house m a good suburb paying off his builder and engaging another to eiect him a costly mansion m the cheaper quarter. The man who would do that would be a lunatio, unless he was .going to get some boodle out of it from somewhere. What the actual objection to the Clvde-miav site is has not been made apparent by Mr Fletcher and his followers. The , only objection that *Truth" .^can see is that it is central is already;: well under way. and Is being built for /a very "low figure. These objections may. m some minds, bold water, but this paper^ is too dense to follow the reasoning.

Let us look at the facts of the case as they stand at present. This dock, Whidh is greatly needed tin Wellington, has been talked about for years. /The late Harbor Board Engineer, Mr Iveipuson, although opposed to the construction of a dock, admitted that the proper and best site was Clydequav. The advice of experts was sought and the Clyde-quay site fixed unon as the best possible position, That was all settled ' and nobody niade any great fuss about it, for raised a. shindy because it wasn't at Day's Bay or Kaiwarra, or any Qthei old place. • Tenders were called for ' the construction of the dock, a ; id only three were submitted, viz., JKcLean Bros., #L Pulley, and Jamietton Bros., of Christchurch. It is generally conceded by people who know that Pulley can cut pretty low m. this sort of thing, and yet his tender was £64,000 m excess of McLean Bros,, Jamieson Bros were 5fi14,000. above this again, .or £7.8,---fij.C,.above the lowest tender. The Bum involved m the construction of the. x do.ck will ,be_. enormous, but still a margin of ,£78,000 is equally enormous, and when one comes te think of it, the firm that ijan contract '£64.000 below the next tenderer must either have marvellous faculties for carrying out the.work, or they are m p. good way of. dropping their coin. The £14,000 difference , between the second and third tenderers is not -so bad. but £e4q>oOO is a corker and should convonp^: the authorities that they have' a good thing on and- persuade them to erb on. with the work m spite of all the malcontents and Uarkers m the city.

McLean Bros, Jen ow their oWn business, beist, and "it is nothing to do With this ' paper, or with anybody else whether they make money out of the contract or lose a pot, but on the face of things it would appear that they stand to do the latter. However, be that as it may, the fact remains that the Harbor Board has an excellent contract, and that if they get their dock built at McLean fer os .price v they have a real soft thing on. ** Who would be the most likely to .benefit ; if the present site were given , up md a new one' settled fcpon.: Wellington ot McLean Bios. ? Already something .between £30,000 and £50.000 has been expended on the work. This money will be literally thrown into the- harbor, if the project is. abandoned. McLean Bros, fere not going to give up that for the .%&neftt ot the city/ They are not built that Way. If a bungle has Been made m choosing the Clyde<Htay site the city will have to pay Nearly fpr it. But no one bas, so' f.\f. proved to anybody's satisfaction that a bangle has been made about tifei site. Of coiirse, those people .Who have interests m Evan ? s Bay !scaht . the dock there— some neople Vould advocate Island. Bay if they thought it would. put up the price of their ".proputty"~KaiwaEra. people Want it there and so on, but it has been proved beyond all possible shadow of doubt that Clyde-quay is. the proper place. It is also beyond .doubt tbat the contract price for the *.Work is wonderfully low, and yet

there are people who to .b e good . citizens who would /fehrow away these advantages,, either because, of a personal "fad or for private gain. ■ * \ «•_'_■

It is therefore tlie plain duty of the citizens of Wellington . ' to" kick against this agitation for the proposed removal with all ■: their might.. If such. a. ..thing is pcnmitted it, will, be a scandal and a .disgrace to the city, for not only will it iftean a, deliberate throwing away of the £30,000 odd already spent, but .it means that no firm will offer to erect . the new dock on anything' like such favorable terms; but, at the least, at an increased price of £30,000— a dead loss of £60,000. But not only- is it a matter of cost but of convenience. If Wellington wants a dock; at all . it wants it at once. The importance of the harbor as the shipping centre of New Zealand and the daily growing tonnage of its shipping call for the speedy erection ofthe dock— make it imperative, m fact, that the work should be pushed forward with all possible, haste. If the Clyde Quay site be abandoned -and the contractors compensated -for the broken coiitract, who will venture to say how long it will be before anew site is selected and a new dock under way of construction ? What guarantee have we that if the present work is abandoned and this site given up m favor of another, an agitation will not be got up about .the new site and another £60,000 or so be thrown into the sea ? If the ratepayers are not careful they will find when it is too late that they have been made the catspaws pf a scheming clique and that it has been individual interest and not the interest of the.cisy that has prompted the extraordinary display of energy on the part of the agitators. -, .