The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1884. THE OPAKI SECTION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1648, 25 March 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1884. THE OPAKI SECTION.

When our Few Zealand Moses, Sir Julius Vogel, first struck tie rook and loans gushed forth for the refreshment of enterprising colonists, railway contracts were considered a good thing. All sorts, and .conditions of men tried to get them, and among the successful competitors were some very queer customers. The Public Works Department was a little, weak at first, but it gradually found out that it must be smarter than even sharp contractors if the various railways under its-charge were to be constructed within a reasonable time at a fair price and in a substantial manner. If the Public Works Department were at liberty to publish its experience of contractors and of their sureties it could a tale unfold which would astonish many, it has, howover, to do its work silently, to accept blame and abuse from all quarters without rejoinder. A clever railway contractor, who had a considerable experience of working for the Government, told us once that the Public Works Department had learnt the business of railway construction so thoroughly that it was now useless to work ppints in a contract! At first the infractors had been able to ' best' the Engineers, but they : could do this no longer. There aro now gfavo complaints made about the manner in which thfl Department has taken oyer the Opaki section of theM'asterton and Woodville railway. . It is urged that the Department has aoted in an arbi« trary manner, mid it is very likely it

lias, but with the knowledge we have of the past relations of the department and of its contractors, we feel bound to express a conviction that if it did not occasionally exercise an arbitrary power, it would go to the wall,' Public sympathy naturally flows in the direction of the contractors who are crushed by a stern bureau, and tho sub-contractors, and sureties, employees, (fee., who all suffer by tho downfall of the contractors, If tho question were one" of, sentiment wo would censure the Government, But a little consideration will show that the people of New Zealand have to pay tho piper, and that a really efficient Public Works' Department must protect tho people's pockets, and to do this it must 'discard sentiment. It is said that the officers of the department now in this district aro captious and inexperienced. They may be so, but if they are they are a different stamp of men to those who have usually been employed ly this Department. Our own experience, extending from the time when the first section of the railway was let between Wellington and Kaiwarra, has been that the Department has been well officered, and it would require stronger evidence than has yet been adduced to convince 11s to the contrary. A private employer of labor can engage and dismiss men at his pleasure without fear of public censure, but a Government Department is met at every turn by public criticism, and to escape censure it must be very wary. We have never heard a word said against the manner in which the Wellington and Maimwatu line is being constructed, but that work is a private venture, and to criticise it would be very injudicious: but, wore a Gpvemment staff at work, faults would be readily detected and fearlessly exposod. We don't pity the poor Government that it does not possess that immunity from censure which a private company enjoys, because we have always had a conviction that a Stato should not make and maintain railways. If a State will take up works which can be equally well performed by private individuals or joint stock companies, it must "run the gauntlet." vVe have no reason to favor the Public Works Department, but we have a pretty firm conviction that it understands what it is about and knows its own business a little better perhaps than the outside public do. In taking over O'Malley and Pepekell's contract, and in completing it under the control of its own stafl) it has probably acted in the interest of tho colony, and, if so, we must refuse to throw stones at it, One allegation made against the department, viz., that of recklessly engaging and discharging men on the Opaki contract seems to be substantiated. Were the officers in charge permitted to give their reasons for the frequent changes that have been made in the corps of workmen engaged on tho section we might be in abetter pr.sition to say how far it is culpable. Tho statement of employees who have been displaced are more or less before the public, but. they necessarily give but one side of the case, Still they amount to a prima, facie chargo of injudicious management against the controlling staff, and we trust that if mistakes in judgment have been made in engaging and dismissing hands, they will not be repeated. The public have as we before intimated, a right to expect that the Department will complete this section—lst, with reasonable speed; 2nd, at a reasonable price; 3rd, in a substantial manner, Should the Department fail in fulfilling either of these conditions it will deserve public censure, but till it is apparent that one or other of these main conditions are violated, it is hardly fair to criticize too closely the details of its management.