GOVERNMENT ROAD TENDERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 321, 30 December 1862, Page 5

GOVERNMENT ROAD TENDERS.

' {To the-Editor-of: the' Daily. Times,),

Sir,—From the motion successfully carried through the ProviDciHl- Council, a;;shojt time since .by Mr ■Oargijlj it will not, I presume, be premature to suppose that they have, at least, the wish.to expend the large^urns recently voted for Iloads Jiiid-Bridges in a manner that will be most conducive "to the interests of the Province. ; " ,

But before the intentof that.modou—the pro'cura tionof the best Engineering ability from the old .country—can be made available, a second, and probably a third half-year's vote, for a similar, purpose, will have been passed;by the Council; and in the meantime very great, improvement can be made iri the present system of tendering-, resulting in a much jnqre satisfactory stateof things both to the Government and the tenderers. "-- ; ....

j In this communication I will merely suggest to Mr Canjil]..that it should in-1 occupy the executive a fortnight in deciding which of nine tenders.was the, most' eligible; that it should not have b'en neceesary to prefer the tenders back from the Provincial Secretary's office to the Soad Engineer's department for professional information ; that it should not have require., ten days to supply that information ; and that no tender should have been entertained that was not in acordance with the specified conditions, or that was c .uched in such ambiguous terms that the assistance' of the tenderer, in verbal explanation of l.is meaning, should be requisite;—but that instead of the present wretched system, tenders shpuld. be opened* at the hour named, in. presence of the tenderers or their duly authorised agents—that the accepted tenderer should be then and there announced. This can be very easilycarried out by having all the necessary engineering information at hand, arid rejecting every | tender, not in accordance with the instructions. This matter is more deserviug of consideration than many | that occupy the time of the •Council.' It will be a.j serious thing if time is to be. wasted over the forthcoming tenders in a like'manner—the public will not be ; £ainers. In any case I trust Mr Cargill v.'ill see to the matter in his place in the Council. ■ ' ■ Anti-Hum buci. i Duneuin, 29fh Dec, 1882.