A COUNTY ENGINEER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 229, 10 January 1911, Page 2

A COUNTY ENGINEER

THE APPOINTMENT NOT FAVORED BY THE COUNCIL.

In speaking to his notice of motion re the appointment of an engineer to the Taranaki County Council at yesterday's meeting, C'r. McAllum referred to the importance and urgency of the matter as an excuse for bringing up the question again. With the fresh matter and fuller information which he hau gathered, and knowing members were desirous of doing the very best possible in the interests of the county, he fell sure they would not resent his action. He therefore moved that applications from duly qualified persons willing to devote their whole service to the Council's business be invited for the position of engineor to the Taranaki County. Before Jie was returned as a member of the Council, Cr. McAUum said he had joined in many discussions on subject, and the conclusions invariably arrived at were that the Council would be better off if it had a capable man to supervise its works on roads anu bridges. For a number of years the Council had employed engineering talent as required, and the expenditure for the last four years had been £307 per annum, which was sufficient to provide ' the salary and travelling expenses of a qualified man devoting all his time to the work. During the next two years a number of bridges will have to lie built or rebuilt in the Moa riding; bridges in other ridings require early attention; the heavy hills on the Main South road require regrading, and on the district roads recently merged into the county there is much work for years to eom'e for the man he was after, and it was imperative in the interests of Public Safety ("Spell that in capital letters, Mr. Reporter") that that man should be obtained at the earliest possible moment. A matter thai he wished to refer to was that when contractors tendered for work, under plans and specifications drawn up by a competent engineer, the tendering'in all cases would be lower than in the past. A contractor from whom he had gathered this information emphasised the fact that he could and did tender for a neighboring county s work where there was a resident engineer with confidence, and at a lower price than for similar work in this county. Time after time, Cr. McAllum said, they met at the Council table, where the various reports of the roact foremen were placed before them, and important information was not forthcoming. As an instance of this he mention the discussion that took place on Foreman Jones' casual labor recently, which could have been settled by an engineer right off and without the loss oi much valuable time and the injury to Jones' feelings; then there was the present trouble between Foreman Brosnan and contractor Parkin, the report having to he referred back to Foreman Brosnan, whereas the presence of ait engineer at the table would have obviated the necessity of doing so. The case of the Waipuku bridge, which was still fresh in their memories, pointed strongly to the absolute necessity of having a properly qualified engineer. With" the knowledge and experience of such a man beside them, it was more than probable that the rebuilding of the bridge would' have been delayed for somo years to come. Besides the cases mentioned, there were numerous others, which were as a rule referred to the chairman or the member of the riding to report upon, and that was not as it should be. They wanted a man at the meetings to answer questions and give expert advice as to the Council's requirements; - a man who was constantly on the roads supervising the work being done; who was alile to report on the condition of the roads and bridges, the quantities of metal required on the different lengths, what scarifying was necessary arid how the men had been employed. That would do away with the foremen's reports. The members for the ridings were not competent to do that, and, besides, it was no part of their duty to interfere with the road foremen. Cr. McAllum said t-he Council had a good stall, and he was in no way disparaging the work of the foremen, but eommonsense pointed out the glaring fact that the present system of conducting the Council's business wanted remodelling so as to get the best results for the least expenditure. He had heard it said that if an engineer was appointed some of their men would leave the Council's service, and he did not know whether to believe it or not, but he wanted to say right there that if any of them were so ill-advised and so lacking in common sense as to throw up a good 9s a day, wet or dry job. with a week's holiday at Christmas, besides two or three other days in the year, that would be their own look-out. a* there were plenty of good men only too willing to step into their shoes. ' The Council was going to run the county's business, not the road foremen, in the interests of the ratepayers. Mr. Hastie. 1 chairman of the Waimate West County Council, had informed him that his council had employed an engineer for tlirae years past, and its experience was that it could not possibly do without one; in the first year he more than saved his salary in keeping down expenses and in getting better results for the money expended. Cr. McAllum was of the opinion that the Waimate West Council did not stand in need of an engineer as much as Taranaki did. He wished to publicly thank officials of county councils throughout the Dominion for the courtesy and promptness with which they had answered his queries. He wouid not weary members with a detailed account of the information, but would place it at the disposal of the Council when it came to draw u]i conditions, etc.. of the appointment. A synopsis of the information shows that eight of the 71 councils who replied were so lanre that they had to employed both engineers and overseers, the engineers being paid £3OO to £SOO, and the overseers from £lsl to £.'!iiU per year; there were .'l7 smaller counties employing engineers who are allowed private practice ami who are paid from £IBO to £300; ten counties engage engineers as required, but have overseers or inspectors to supervise the work of the permanent hands, ami who receive from £l5O plus expenses to £250 per annum; nine counties give ho information as to stall', and only one county employs road foremen as Taranaki docs. Cr. McAllum asked if members would carry on the work of their own farms in the same manner in which the Council was conducted, lie said emphatically they would not; if they were unable to supervise the work themselves, they would employ some thoroughly capable man to do so in their places. In reply to a question from Cr. Andrews, Cr. Carter said the sum of £0440 had been raised bv loan for bridge work in the Moa riding, and ot that amount five per cent, was allowed for engineering supervision, and he took it that that amount would be available, ill the event of a permanent engineer being appointed. So that if only in the nature of an experiment he was in favor of Cr. McAllum's motion, and he considered it would be a, wise step. The sum of £350 would be available from the loan for the first year, and the Council would have to find only £350 altogether for the two years. Ordinarily, said Cr. Carter, he would not liavc

been so sanguine on the matter, but at the present juncture, with a lot of work to be done and part of the money assured from the loan, it would be good business as an experiment to see what \ would be the result after getting proper supervision by a permanent engineer. In seconding the motion, Cr. Carter complimented Cr. McAllum on the amount of information he had put before the Council, and thanked him for the trouble he had gone to in obtaining it. He was sure the Council had everything to gain by trying the experiment. Cr. Hill said provision had been made for £350 out of the Moa riding loan, and it would appear that the Moa and other ridings would also have to provide the other £350 He would vote against the motion.

Cr. Hopson said Moa riding was settled with the cost of the engineer for one year, and if the other ridings wanted a bridge afterwards Moa riding would have to pay her share just the same. That was not fair or just. At any rate, he considered it was rather an unusual tiling to bring up this matter so soon after being disposed of. It was too much of a good thing, and the mover should have got some more tangible reason for bringing it forward. A clerk of works would have to be employed even if they had an engineer, as he would not stand alongside the men and see the work done. They had an engineer now, and he (Cr. Hopson) did not see how the Council was going to chuck him off, unless they compensated him. He was strongly against the motion. When he first came to the Council he tried to bring {lie same question forward, and had been blocked for some time. Since then, however, he was the other way about, as he had come to the conclusion the Council saved money by doing without a permanent engineer. \\ hen they wanted an engineer they could pay for him. Cr. McAllum said that he had distinctly asked at last meeting if the Council was under any agreement with the engineer, and had Been assured by the chairman that there was none. "

The chairman saM the engineer whs engaged to report, and when they supervised the work the whole transaction was regarded as one. No charge had been made for the report at Te Ilenui, but if the Council chucked the engineers over perhaps they would charge. Cr. Stevens said he did not agree with Cr. MeAlluin in the matter of the trouble with Foreman Brosnan, as a contractor would just as readily "go for" the engineer as for the foreman. The position had not changed since last being discussed. Cr. Tate said the matter rested with the Moa riding members. At the present time it was not likely that tho Waitara riding would require any engineering work. If they did require anything done, there was no more qualified person to ask as to what was to be done than the foreman. His riding should not be asked to pay for anything in the nature of an experiment.

Cr. Andrews said it was ridiculous to say the Council could not get along well without an engineer; as a matter of his experience, the more engineers they had the more difficulties they got into. He could see no work in sight in his riding requiring an engineer, and lin would not support the motion.

The chairman said he could not say any more than he had done on the last occasion, and he hoped the meeting would dispose of it one way or the other, and that the last would be heard of it for some time. As he said before, he considered they were past the technical part of their work, and what was to be done now was the practical. Cr. McAllum replied to the arguments raised against the motion, and there was further discussion.

On the motion being put to the meeting, it was defeated, only the mover and seconder supporting it. C'r. McAllum thanked the members for their courtesy in listening to his remarks. and stated that he had not lost hope, but would in the course of twelve months or so, if he had the opportunity, bring the mutter forward again.