BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 May 1916, Page 6

BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

To the Editor. Sir, —I have just received a copy of the Taranaki Daily News of the 3rd inst., in which your leader appeals in reference to borough administration, and in which you state that my estimate for laying down the roadway along the tram route was £IO,OOO. Now, this is not quite correct, as my total estimate for the work was £11,500, made lip as follows: — £IO,OOO from the £22,000 loan, £ISOO from the £42,000 loan (and appears upon the schedule as £I4OO for metalling and formation on Motnroa road, and £IOO for metalling on South road). The Council later decided to soltar the tram track in place of tar painting, and £I3OO was added to my estimate for this work, making a total of £2BOO, or approximately £2500 per mile. The tramway contractor metalled Bft wide for the whole length of the track, 16ft wide at the double track and loops, and 24ft wide opposite blie railway stations. If the deficiency amounts to £5005, then the cost of tlie work must have been approximately £3400 per mile, or over £.IOO per mile above my estimate. Now, the easiest solution to this problem is to blame inv estimate, and is what should X should expect under the circumstances, but there may have been other factors, such as the work being carried out in a different method to mine (perhaps better) or the removal of old metal to side streets, which I should have used for foundation. Of one' thing I am absolutely certain: it is that the work was not earned out to my specifications, and if an architect alters tlie specification's then he must also alter the cost of construction. While I was engineer to the borough I carried out many works, some of them fairly large, and can truthfully say that not one of them cost as much as 10 per cent, over the estimate. Any member of the late Council will verify tliis statement, lam sure. To prove that I have still faith in my estimate I am prepared (providing I can obtain permission from tlie Bituco Road Binder Company) to lay down one or more miles of bituco asphalt roadway for the price of my estimate, plus the dift'erence between the cost of soltar and bituco, and also the cost of metal laid by the tramway contractor, the roadway selected to be the width of the average of the tram route.—l am, etc., C. SKITROP, C.E., Engineer to tlie Bituco Road Binder Company. Newmarket, Auckland.