BAND UNIFORMS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 386, 22 November 1932, Page 5

BAND UNIFORMS

MAYOR's statement OPPORTUNITY GIVEN LOCAL TRADESMEN TO TENDER EXPLANATIQN OF BOSITION -v The following statement in cpn- . nection with the tehder for ihe making of band uniforms'for the Rotorua Municipal Band was h'and'ed to "ihe "Morning Post" yesterday"' by tlie Mayor, Mr. T. Jackson:— ' "I wish to correct the impression in the min'ds of the public that the eouncil has not given due consicjeration to the claims of local tradespeople for the supply of band uniforms. "When-the rnatter was first considered by the band 'corixmit|;ee, it was decided to invite quotations and samples bf cloth from 'several firms who' were known to be specialists in the manufacture of. |iand''uni$orms. After this had been dorie, and" ^'efore the , replies were received ' 'frorh ' 'the firms. in .question, 'ijFwas*' su^geste^ that there might be local tailorsr"wKo would also be in a position to qu'otei "Inquiries were accordingly ' made from several local tradespeopl'e, |>ut these stated tliat they were not jn a position to compete with ouf;side firms for ari order of tliis sizeY 'T'he tenders from . the outside' firms were accordingly considered, but before any deeision was made, a r'equesi was received from ariofihef locah' man' t^'at he be given an opporturiity "to* tender. Time Allowed "In order to give him this opportunity, arid time to obtain samjplesi the mattdr was accordingly heli over for approximately a weeki "When'the samples and quotations were submitted they were considered tojjetiier with those of the outside tenderers. After taking all the facts into' consideration, and considering 'samples and prices, the- committee made a recommendation to the co'uncil that tjie. tender of the Salvation' Army' Auxiliary Company be accepte'd.' "When tbis recopimendation was considered by the council doubt was expressed as to the advisability of "accepting what appeared to be the higriest tender, and the question was referred back to the committee for further consideration. At this stage," Ib'y an unanimous vote of the" council, Cr. O. TI. Coleman was appoirited fo cooperate with the committee iri an advisory capacity in regard to the qu'ality of the samples s'ubmitted. This Ci*. Coleman did, and at a subsequent meeting of the committee, he made it quite clear that he was only advismg on the quality of the samples of cloth, and that he had no knowledge as' to the quality of the uniforms mariufaefured by the Salvation Army Conipaliy. Neither at this meeting hor" at any other meeting of the committee did Cr. Coleman exercise a vote. Committee's Attitude "At this meeting Cr. Coleman reported that after examining the various samples submitted, lie Was of the opinion 'that the samp'le submitted by the Salvation Army Company" was superior to any of the others. The committee, however, was sfill desirous, if possible, of placing the work locally, and to that end deeision was deferred'in order to give ' the local radesman an opportunity to see if 'he could obtain a cloth ^ equal to the t-ample submitted by the Arriiy. This the trad-esman in question undertook o do, but some six days elapged before the samples were ' submitted. When they finally came to hand, they were again submitted to Cr. Coleman, who reported to the chairman Of tlie committee that. in his opinion, the sample submitted by the Army Cdriipany was still the best of the" samples. In addition to this there wa^'tfie fact that even if the local tradesman had been in a position to submit cloth of an equal quality to that shown by the Army, he was still riot able to obtain an adequate supply for - the full set of uniforms. ' ■ * * , L "Accordingly the committee again met, and after having again gbne iiito the whole question, finally made the recommendation which was submitted at the last meeting of the council and adopted."