CHIMNEY REPAIRS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 October 1942, Page 2

CHIMNEY REPAIRS

WIDE DIVERGENCE IN COST COUNTY COUNCILLORS GIVE INSTANCES. DISCUSSION AT YESTERDAY’S MEETING. Reference to a wide divergence in the cost of restoring earthquake-damag-ed chimneys in the county was made at yesterday afternoon’s meeting of the Masterton County Council, when a councillor asked for information on the subject. Councillor G. Moore said that he wished to know how the cost of the chimneys was arrived at. He had been told of a settler who had taken the time involved in having his chimneys done, and the cost worked out at 17s 6d an hour.

Councillor J. W. Colquhoun: “He was lucky!” “The builders are over the fence,” said the County Clerk, Mr J. C. D. Mackley, “and we have no control over them.”

Councillor Colquhoun said that' the cost was arrived at on a basis of the man’s fare, his board in Masterton, an average on overtime, and the expenses of materials to the local bodies. Mr Mackley: “No accounts have gone out yet.” Councillor Moore said that he wanted to know if ratepayers should pay the bricklayers or the local body. Mr Mackley explained that where ratepayers had given instructions for work to be done they were required to pay the bricklayer. He added that where that was being done the bricklayers were “making hay while the sun shines.” Councillor Moore: “I know of a case in which four chimneys cost £80.” Mr Mackley: “Well, I had one man complaining to me that it cost him £6B for a double chimney, and at the same time I received a ring from someone else asking if £79 for seven chimneys was a fair price.” The discussion then lapsed.