MR SAUNDERS' SPEECH ON THE CIVIL SERVICE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 527, 28 July 1880, Page 2

MR SAUNDERS' SPEECH ON THE CIVIL SERVICE.

(Abridged 'from Hansard.) ■ (Continued:) In the letter written'by 'Sir Oonyers he positively denies that; we found a store-, keeper there : . receiving £l6O ,a'year,'with' no stores -and no. office.. - The following' are extracts from the evidence of;Mr J. H, Denton, - Olerk- and Storekeeper, Nelson;—-- • • The Chairman: What is your salary ] —£l6o a year. , ' ' What ; duties 'do you 'rundertake ?—I assist Mr';Blackett! in the general office work, and lteep the stores.' •'. . And you take charge of "the" stores in connection .with : the Public Works Department 1-YeS. '• Have you an office set'apart for. that, purpose l-^No; I have hot a separate office. I use the' same' room- as the 1 draughtsmen in the office. Where do you keep your'stores ?-We do not keep any quantity of stores on hand, but get them as we require them, The only stock we" have o'ri'hand is rail; way material, and that is f kept in- the railway yards at Foxhill and Nelson. ■ : ■

. . Do.you consider it your duty to obtain from the storekeepers jntfelfson anything you'may Inquire in the shape of- stores, .exoeptiailway- that may be -required/by the Public Works Department ? -Yes ;, everything exoept railway maJ teriali' Vi : -o-'And do you gat these stores-by tender, ,pr ; by private purohasej—l jive an order lor them 1 to the storekeeper,' and he .supplies them..- & S[How do you arrange* with iegard tb' the' ; price, quality,. &c. ?r 7 -Thero Has-been no "tongemerit so far withl reganl'tp price, ;We pay the ordinary, retail pries for the goods. | . . 1"' ':"And are none of your atores"obtained ;bj publio lender in kelson , / H.i Whet« doi you go for your Jfc'get it from'Mi?'Baigent,- that' is,' the ,timber.required'for;the"maintenance of publio buildings. * ' "3 J,J And de you get timber without any ■contraoting'or:tendenng;?—Yesrwe'h'ave' done so smceToaraefhere. * J V "He may Us,as"h J e says, 1 assisting Mr.! Blackett in the office. Of couriers not true, 11 stated in the Article; 1 tkt.it' S» actinj as draughtiman in Mr Blactett'i" °ffice v > j; -He is there ii a draughtsman ia the effice, It ii quit* "*:a asm, •4 <■ I < s,

: posMble |h«;imay be a very industrious man; it .mky-hot b«.hii fault that he has n6tenou|{Efo'd6.Al\may say that, if I ■had to chose betwesn the three men there some one to dp the duties of the whole of them, perhaps Ifiljoulcl take the £l6O-» year. man. to a rery sire I point indeed,; and ( oni upon which w# hare been very 7 strongly blamed. The | report, on page 7, lays — missioner has capital invested invested it »firm contritotiieg withithediipattsaent ; which he is the head, and that his receipts from ; thu'capitaFdepend ut th'e'iuoßm" J . of this firm, Such a fact can hardly fall the .Actions of officers aerfing under the Commissioner, and entirely to destroy .the confidence of other firms tefc' jibjy anjpfnt ofToss which, ' ihoicßloriylnay suffered from tfiur iobyiously false position held by the wprjw 'ing head of its pri£aipal railways—a posU tion that should' not lie permitted under ' any circumstances." ' It\has been (jiaid by Mr Conyeri and his'friends that; in making this statfmeritj we. liald back a part .of the truth which should liave been'' s\'^id' j a l s i,: greatiy Juiti- 1 rfying hi? ipositionrij The part qf;th.e ( truth that we we're expected to state in connection with this was a truth that would have dii'eotly accused the honorable member for Port .Chalmers of ,being 7 a .party. t« a popitioii'whioli we oonj'ider an jimpropar one. Kbw, if we had gone out' of our ■way:- to pake a statement of that kind—which'woiild 'not in the slightest degree have altered Mr Oonyers' position; which would, not have made his position in the slightest' decree less, objeptionable-we should have been justly acoused of going out of our way to,attacta gentleman with whom we had nolhiiig-to do J ; if we had ventured to do have damned the whole report by giving it a party appearance * krid''l' am l Very glad we did, not to do that. Anything we had to siy in that; direction could not only do no good, but I also venture to say that to put the mild eat,, possible'twny'of doing se; and , that,'if we put it before the public as Mr Oonyers has done, we should be doing what we had no right to do. The telegrams I'am about.to read are of a charao-,. ter which I should, not'myself MM trip circumstarices , 'hayi l Wiiight before the • 'House; but Ido bo by.the particular permission and request of Mr Oonyers;- On the-lstrJune I tolegraphed toltrOonveri . is follows.

i .".Wellington,; Ist.:- i886.r-Evi., denoe given to Commission makes it necessary, to aik you'following question: Whilst in'Gbvernment service, have you at.any.time boen a partner in any business firmjin the colony 1 If so, how long did, such connection last, and when did it cease ? Have you any direct or indirect interest in any . business .'or firmiat the present, time! ,Have you allowed ooal, 'firebricks, or otHer stores to ,be purohased privately for the railway or publio works at. higher prices , than, 'contractor* .were bound toiupply the same articles at,the same time? With what object were spoke pollers ordered from'Davidson, and what purpose have they aiswered 1 Commission.called fqr'your evidence this morning, but .found that you had left" Wellington. SiTODBM,-iWr Converg; -Esq. Duriedin, r „

-On the'sth June we telegraphed again, I'/Hav.e :y®r;i;ewyMl.telegram of Ist instanU—We-kave-reeeflJed-BO.reply. Aimed SiUKDMg, "L siAndioh'jthe sitae day we got a reply from Mr.Gonyert thus: "When your arrived I was in Ohristchuroh - will post full 'aiiswento' ill the queries to-day. Will you oblige me with the'name of the pers6n ; wlio gave the evidence?—W.-. 'OomtmS- 1 ! This *eenig;' to.be the first demand with reference to «njj person who-has;givim'evideiice.sup-posted- to be j cbhdemhatory.' Of oou'rse the'reply was that we oould not at present telegraphs', " Your ' telegram wired "this morning that your former telepaa arrived during my Dunedin and .that a full reply te your questioas is posted to-day,—W. Ookysrj." ; I xsaj say that no such reply, reached us; but subsequently Mr Conyers replied, by t«l#gram,-

-/" not easyjo compres! my Answers withmthe scope of a felegram, but I.jrill" do my best. In January, .1875,Ientered into partnership. with' Mr Davidaon, and sent ray resignatiou to the Provincial Go-" yernment.. Subsequently, jit the request : of Government,; I- .witHdrew my resignation, andj : with a considerable' increase of salary, resumed my official functions.l withdrew; my name . from ' the business, the Davidson M*as-unable' ' to"' pay ; me 'out, and I was compelled to; leave my money in the business as X)avidaon undertakiiig to pay/.rae f .:interest for the use of it. That was'ilearly stated to : the Government at the tiraii"? v.-, The part-which followed- is th& part which I should not have published. It ii a part whioh shows that the fact as stated by the Commissioners was not the worst' that could have .been stated,. It is a part which shows that Mr Oonyejrs is in a posi> tiou that makes, him entirely dependent of-his interest and principal . " The arrangement has been a very detrimental one to me, for my money ii still looked up, and I have not raoelved the, promised interest. lam informed by .the, Locoraotire Engineer"—Mr Arm-' .strong again—" that he purchased some fire-bricks of Davidson.. ...They were-re-quired to keep an important furnace 'ffoirif ■■■ and bricks of the kind, I am told, ojuld , not be obtained elsewhere. Spoke-rolls' were ordered of Davidson.by the locomotive Engineer, because . he, as contractor for iroft'-castings, was entitled to r the. order. Davidson's tender: was/accepted on the recommendation of two officers appointed-to- txamine'aMd' tfomparethe tenders, 1 his tender being the lowest. The rolli.irere not successful for' the work for which they they have : ddrie ,w#rk.;' My.' brief partnership with; Davidson, is, the only .business conriectibji fthave em had V in the colony,' and I hivepunctiliously avoided | placing any work in his hands because' jl would not lay-myself open to mischievous imputations.-: > r By'Moaday's mai} will send you .documents*'in support of these ;»tatements," , ' : - :: ; V We.shall see about that prwently. '' ....... ;