The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1081, 7 October 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1879.

Messrs. Otterso.v. Smith. and Roberts. the councillor* appointed by the Council to inspect the waterworks, have performed i thuir task well, judging from the voluminous report which they have submitted to the Council. Of course, they only viewed the works with the eve* of laymen, for they arc not practised engineers, and arc indebted to the officers under Mr. M'Leod and the engineer himself for the technical portions of the repon which has resulted from their visit. Anything outside of mere opinions as to how the work should have been conducted, and how it should be conducted in future, are, to our mind, worthless, and the other portions, alas, come almost too late to be of any practical aae. A full-grown man who would count twelve pennies with the object of endeavoring to make twenty-four of them would be considered a tit subject for a lunatic's cell. No amount of looking at the waterworks now will reduce the amount r>rt the work completed below what the Council has incurred through its engineer. But the inspecting Councillors have not altogether labored in vain. They have | pointed out in their report that as much :of the day latwr as possible should be ' abolished. They seem to hv.e como to • the conclusion that has been arrived :at over and over again in the Council Chamber, namely, th-it day labor, with an overseer to every two or three men, should cease, and that the work should be let by contract. The inspecting Councilors also express an opinion that, had the wh>le of the work uncompleted when Mr. Henderson abandoned his contract been let by tender, its cost would have been definitely known, and a considerable sum saved that has been expended in inspection, &c. Councillors Roberta, Ottersoii, and Smith are one with the ratepayers on this ipiestion. No such work, or any portion thereof, that could have been let by tender, should have bten performed bv' day laborers. A contractor cuts everything down to the lowest farthing in vicing with his brother contractors, and the party with whom he covenants secures the advantage of his care, his cheeseparing. We need not say that, under the day-labor system. money invariably runs away like water through a sieve. We have had proof of that since tile application of that system to the Waterworks. The Council's Engineer is. we believe, a conscientious man. We have little doubt that he has been as careful as most men would have been in the fuliittuent of the duties of a.! otKce such as that he occupies. But nothing but touching a man's own pocket cau have the effect of inspiring him with needful economy. Cutting and contriving should not be left to an engineer. When he has prepared his plans he should have nothing to do but. to see that they are carried out by a contractor whose price has been reduced to the lowest remunerative standard through competition. Rut we cannot commend Mr. M'l.-'-d for his conduct in another respect. We are witling—and we are sure that the public are willing—to allow sonic margin for "exema" in an estimate for a work such as that under treatment. But it i 3 not expected that the estimate of an accredited engineer shall be supplemented by a similar amount for "extras." We are not engineers, but we think that even we could, by ** rule of thumb," have arrived at the cost of the W aitaki water supply, bv saying that it would be L*i;">.ooo, !.Vr>.flOo. i.no.tioo. i.!i:;.w)o, or Wtw.vn that and L200.0P0. or soni.'wln're ;*bout.s. V* r■ bvlievo wc are rigu* v.tivo;

vt« a;\y thai it is ctuSmiarj - t*>r irt e*>uj-piiUrv i 4 tht- tvst »if such a v.nrk that ot' which Mr. M*Lc-.fi lut* charge, all.nv margin tVr contingencies. I>ti: Mr. M-Lt'ds first estimate of did not, he tells its, include such thtnsa, ami ra therefore ir.:V.eadirr,'. 113.fl the C.usncti dreamt that the expenses for extras" arid ».<> T ;tin-^e-.-eies. emitted hv the Engineer fro ;r his estimate, would amount to r.it r; 5dtttonai lAS .WO. with a probability th..: t)t!ier etfltnt* would supplement :he amount »® a* t«» make it as lanre ;>•- the ♦»riilisi¥vl ear.inwU*, they Would b-'tv- :.eI one of the other schemes .-t;;';.united to th»m. It wm the ji.r.gv.:ctt.ie of the scheme, and its apparent comparative cheapness, tiiat tempted the Council to embark in it. We contend that the Engineer is reapon-

siblo for the remarkable discrepancy between his first estimate and that which he gives now that the scheme is about three-fourtha completed. Nor is this all. There are troubles ahead, in addition to that of beinssaddled with an almost crushing liability for construction. -Mr. M'Lcod. in Lis hopefulness, may Hay that the iir.st I cost to the Council will end their troubles. Lsu; the probability is that lie will be as far our. in his judgment on this score as he was when he gave his estimate of Li'i'i.O'JO, which had to be revised by the nddi:i> ii <'f an amount of «Loo,ooo. ami .-,ub-e<pient!y by a further amount of US,OOO. J-'iooib, and tlie anticipation of l:-,oi':s. ne«»i>iia:ed the expenditure of the •jrreatest proportion of ibis additional sum, and tiie .[Uestion thai stares us in the race now is, liow will i.ie fare if a Hood such as that of l.SiiS should put them to the test? Will th«y of will liioy not be washed sway, and leave scarcely a trace behind, except gigantic liabilities for compensation to land owners in the vicinity of the race for damages done to their properties 1 The Council's Committee report that the work 3 have been well engineered. We do not doubt it. but it appears to have been done by a system of experiments. Thu original scheme has been amended times out of number, and that in aoine instances after the Engineer has practically demonstrated, at considerable expense, that some of his original ideas were faulty. We do not doubt Mr. M'Leod's ability. He lia3, we believe, proved himself elsewhere to be a man ranking high in his profession. We only speak of him as we find him, and we now say, notwithstanding that we place a high value on a water supply, that it would have been better for Oamaru had it struggled on for years longer, catching its water from the clouds or getting it a3 best it could, rather than have hung sucii a millstone about its neck. We are afraid to look into the future of the Council's finances. It is gloomy—very gloomy, and the men thai will tindeKauo to dispel that gloom will be far more clover than those to whom we shall owe the great scheme that has caused it. We are anxious to see the outcome of next Thursday's meeting, and, if the Council should decide to eutireiy close the waterworks oflice, it will act with the greatest wisdom under the circumstances. But what the step should be we must, leave to Providence.