LOCAL BODY’S MISTAKE

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 16, 28 March 1938, Page 1

LOCAL BODY’S MISTAKE

o— DAY LABOUR MORE COSTLY APOLOGIES TO .TENDERERS SYDNEY, March 3. A mistake that has cost more than £3-500, caused i>y the belief that the Water Board could carry out works in the Bunch bojvl-Lakeinba district more cheaply by day labour than by contract, was admitted yesterday when members of the board expressed their regret I’or their criticism a year ago oi' the prices submitted bv the tender- j crs. Alderman Maunder said, at yesterday’s meeting, that he would like .to extend to the contractors his regrets for any remarks that he had made a year ago, concerning the high costs submitted by them. He had argued against them on the reports submitted b\ the hoard’s engineers, hut he found to-day that the contracors had been quite right. He believed, speaking from memory, that the board’s- engineer had said that the board would save about £2-900 by carrying out the works itself by day labour. Instead of that, the actual coA of one part of tlie work carried out by day labour bad been £18.078. and if if had been carried out by the lowest tenderer, Western Constructions. Limited, the cost would have been only £1.6,-507. ' The- ether part of the work, if it had been carried out by tin.? same tenderer, would have cost £14,031, but. the actual cost by day labour hml been £16,277. Above Schedule Rates The contractors ‘had been condemned* because their prices were so much above the schedule rates prepared by tiic beard, but when the board had carried out the works itself it -had been found that its costs were still more above the schedule rates. Alderman Forsyth said that the better treatment that the board gave to its employees added to its costs. He would not he inclined to. qucsiTmi the fidelity of the contractors. They were doing their job well. Alderman Campbell said that seven works had been carried out by the board bv day labour, and ill only two cases the cost was below what if. would have been if they had been carried out by the lowest tenderer. The contractors had been very reasonable in their tenders. He agreed that things had been said 12 months ago that should not have been said. The president. All- Upton, said that the hoard’s schedules ol' estimated costs had been prepared after the board had carried out works by daylabour under the unemployment relief scheme, but it, was now in a better position to compare costs of day labour with the contract system. Sewerage reticulation work was adequately suitable for day labour.