WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2nd. EVENING SITTING.

Southland Times, Issue 1063, 4 December 1868, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2nd. EVENING SITTING.

The Speaker took the chair at 7 o'clock. Present — Messrs. Blacklock (Provincial Treasurer) Armstrong, Hodgkinson, Swale, Ho well, Wilson, Dalrymple, Daniel, Hately, Longuet, Monckton, Olerke, Boss, Johnston, M'Clure, Bas. tian, Calder, and Pearson. „...,. Prayers. Minutes of previous sitting read and confirmed. DIVERSION OF BLUFF BAILWAY. Mr Clebke asked the Government, " Why, at the time of reading the names of the tenderers for the diversion, of the Bluff railway contract, the amounts were suppressed, and was the tender accepted on Ist December, the day after they were opened, the lowest." He saidhedidnotimpute any motives to the Government, and asked the question as much to jjive an opportunity tor explanation as for any other reason, as there was" a great deal of ill feelmg and" jealousy "expressed outside on the subjects 'He thought the Government to blame for introducing a new mode of procedure at Hihe-opening-of-the4eaderd— the suppression of the figures— a procedure which could bear a very "bad construction. And he also thought the press deserving of severe censure for having allowed the matter to pass unnoticed.".' The PsoTnrciAL Teeastoee said that the reply to the latter part of the question would be found in the report of "the Engineer, Mr Dawson, which would be laid on the table. With regard to the first portion— the suppression-, of the amounts — the Government "had only adopted a system acted upon elsewhere, and had determined in future not to make known- the amounts of the several tenders. until one was accepted, as they had discovered it had been the habit of some contractors, when the Bams were

made known, to profit by a comparison of the figures, and withdraw altogether. In Victoria the practice was to open the tenders, get the Engineer's report on -, = them, then call on the lowest, if elligible, * accept his, and then publish the whole. This was the course the Government had taken in. this instance, and he believed it to be the right one. He would now lay the Engineer's report on the table, and move that it be read. Beport read accordingly. &£# EIVER PILOT SERVICE. Mr Hoss presented a petition from a number of the merchants and traders ot •■•'• Invercargill, praying the Provincial Government to take such steps as might be necessary to maintain the New River Pilot, Service, notwithstanding a notification in the 'New Zealand Gazette' to a contrary effect. IMMIGRATION. Dr Hodgkinsos" moved — " That this , Council, being convinced of the absolute necessity of introducing population and capital as a means of restoring prosperity "' to the colony, is of opinion that free grants of land, at the rate of forty acres to each adult, and twenty acres for each child, with conditions requiring settlement and improvements thereon, should be given to immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, and the North American Colonies, and request the representatives • from Southland in the General Assembly td endeavor to effect the passing of an act in accordance with this resolution." The hon. member supported the resolution in an able speech of great length. Nearly all the members present took part in the debate which followed, and the motion in an amended form was ultimate-

ly carried on the voices, (The debate on this question will appear in a future issue.) OREPUKIROAD. Mr Dasieii asked the Government, : 1 " * whether the Eoad Engineer had inspected the best line of road from Riverton through the Reserve, to join the road from the Narrows to Orepuki.' Mr Basstian thought such questions as "this bright be put and answered without incurring the expense involved in having them placed on the Order Paper. _^ The Speajcee said the course adopted allowed the Government time to collect any:. information necessary to the reply. The Provincial Tbeasttbeb, in reply •to the question, said the Grovernment had not yet given instructions to the Engineer to make the inspection, simply because not in a position to expend the money. ORETI RAILWAY TENDERS. The Pbovhtciaii Teeastibeb brought iip the report of the Select Committee appointed to examine and report upon* the Oreti Railway tenders, and moved that it be read. Eeport read accordingly. f! '■ The Pbovhtcial Tbeasttbeb, moved that the report be adopted. Mr Basstian asked whether the Government had been in correspondence with Mr Proudfoot since, the 14th .November. Mr Abmstboitg said he had written to Mr Proudfoot on the 19th, informing him he had not complied with some of the conditions, and asking an explanation of the terms of his tender — relative to the . amount in land. He had also written to \ Messrs Abbott and Packham informing them of an arithmetical error in their tender, and asking whether they would be bound by the bulk sum, and he had received replies from both parties. Mr Clebke thought it a most extraordinary proceeding on the part of any -Government, communicating with any tenderer in such a way as virtually enabled him to make a fresh offer, after the- contracts had been opened and read. He was assured that in this case Proudfoot, by communicating with his agent in Invercargill, learned the amount of the lowest tender for land, and immediately sent word back, in reply to the Deputy Superintendent's letter, that he would take so much — a few hnndred acres less than the other. He, the hon. member, felt that he could not vote for the adoption, of the report until better informed on the subject. He wished to see the -whole affair, correspondence and everything, laid honestly before the Council. He wished to be sure that having adopted the resolution, and accepted the tender, the General Government would not draw back, and refuse to allocate the land. As yet the Council had nothing but the verbal assurance of His Honor that the

land would still be given. He wished to see black and white for it, and even then he would scarcely feel safe, as he knew enough* of Mr Stafford to.be aware that he was not always bound even by his writing. ' Another condition which the General Government had always adhered to was, that for every acre . of land given twenty shillings worth of work should be received, and he was not aware they would depart from this stipulation now. Mr BiisTiAir thought this tender case little less scandalous than the former one. It was a gross mistake to treat with any contractor after the opening of the tenders. What had been done amounted to letting Proudfoot put in a xresh ,one._.x - 0 .•-■•-•-••■ . . '?.^e Tbotincial Ibeastjbeb further 'explaind why the Government had opened communication with the two tenderers mentioned, and remarked : thathad they thrown theirs out on account, of what were, no doubt, mere clerical errors the Province would have 'been made~to~~Bnffer~to~the extent of Several thousand pounds, by the Govern"beingoforced so fall back upon a tender that amount higher. - Mr Pbatt thought members going away from the question. Asa member of the Select Committee, he might say tfoeyAhad.done what they considered their duty* in preparing the report, and, although its rejection might seem a censure on them, seeing the turn the discussipii h^d taken he thought the best "course -now would be to place the whole Scatter before the House. Mr Abmstbong was of a similar ;d~pimori:~ ~r;~~ JoHirsTOirE was of opinion that the Government had committed a grave error

in communicating with Proudfoot after the opening of the tenders, but he believed they had done so in perfect honesty of purpose, and from good motives. The was no doubt Proudfoot^ although in Dunedin, had information of the amount of the other teuders, as he had at once, in reply to the question of the G-overumeat; stated n quantity of land just a little below Abbott and Packham. The Committee had found no attempt made by the Government at concealment of anything, but rather a desire to enable them to come to a right conclusion, and therefore he believed the correspondence which had taken place with Proudfoot was simply an error of judgement. Enowing,- however, the advantageous position in which Prou'dfoot had thereby been put, he, for one, could not for a moment entertain that gentleman's last offer. This explained why the Committee had recommended Abbott and Packham's. He thought they need not now waste so much | time dis-jussing the action of the Government relative to Proudfoot's tender, as it was not the one recommended for acceptance. Mr LoifGUET thought the whole House had better go into committee to examine the report of the Select Committee. The Pboyhtciai Secbetaet placed on table the correspondence between the Government and Mr Proudfoot ; and Abbott and Packham, and moved that it be read. Mr Pbatt thought the Engineer's reportj which lead to that correspondence, should be first read.

Documents read accordingly. Mr Akmstbong still thought the Government had done what was right in entering into the correspondence read. They might even have considered it requisite to write to all the tenderers asking if they would abide by the additional general conditions. He (Mr A.) said unless those letters had been written, the two lowest tend? rs, through a mere clerical error, would have been thrown out Ind never came before the Council, to the detriment of the Province. Mr Basstiajt drew attention to a clause of the conditions, whereby tenderers were bound by the bulk sum of their tenders, irrespective of the separate items; this, he contended, should have been sufficient, as it made Abbot and Packham's tender eligible. Mr Peaesow agreed with Mr Basstian. The clause read was plain enough, and didn't, fortunately, require an engineer to construe it. Mr Abmstbong though the honestest course in dealing with contractors, as in dealing with anybody else, was to point out a mistake when observed, and ask if they were aware of it, or if would affect their offer. Mr Clebke moved, and Dr Mostckton seconded, " That the House go into committee on the report. Mr Caldeb said by going into committee the House was exactly putting itself into the position it had appointed the Select Committee to avoid. They should either accept the report, or reject it and then go into committee on the whole question. He believed going into committee on the report would only lead to interminable talk. Dr Hodgkinson agreed with the pre. vious speaker. Mr Pbatt thought that, without the name, the House had actually been in committee for the last half hour. He would now prefer seeing the report put aside altogether and the whole question re-opened. He thought anything likely to make members acquainted with the subject should not be objected to. Mr Peaeson had perfect confidence on the Select Committee. To go into commttee of the whole House now would be equivalent to a vote of want of confidence in them. He would therefore oppose the motion, which would only lead to useless squabbling. Mr Eoss said that although one of the members of the Select Committee, he would not object to the general Committee, although it was a very unusual course. Before the Select Committee commenced its duties he had been led to believe they would find out something very serious, but they had discovered nothing requiring concealment. He beJb.elie.ved the . Government -had acted as they believed best for the interests of the Provinve, although, perhaps, with a little informality.

Dr Monckton had seconded the motion from no feeling of want ot confidence in the Select Committee, but simply because it would allow of full explanations being entered into — the rules of the House forbidding members to speak twice. Mr Johnston would like to know whether the committee of the whole House was to go into"the whole question of the tenders, or merely to consider the .adoption.- of the jeport. If Mr Clerke wanted a fling at the Government his proper course was to give notice of a no confidence motion. After some further desultory discussion the amendment was put and lost. Mr Clebke, in order to have an opportunity of saying a few words more on the subject, moved as an ammendment " that the report be not" adopted." He said that as the tenders had been called for different parts of the line, he thought the Government should have accepted them separately, and thereby given the small local men a chance, even although it had cost the Province a little extra. The Peovinciali Teeabtjbeb explained that such a course would have compelled them to reject the most eligible tender for the larger contract, and, further, might have led to serious inconvenience and expense in the event of the smaller contractor— the one nearest town — failing to execute the work expeditiously enough to make the line available for the transport of the -necessary plant to the more distant part of the work. The amendment having been lost, the original motion—" that " the report be adopted— "was then put and carried without a division. The House "adjourned at 12 o'clock, till half-past 2 next day.