The Wairarapa Daily THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1889. A Warning to Tenderers.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3253, 11 July 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1889. A Warning to Tenderers.

The system of executing public works by tender is of great value to local bodies, and in very many instances it is profitable to contractors. The energy which a smart man infuses into a contract is greater than that which be displays when earning day wages, and, provided that bis estimate of cost is a fair one, be can make more profit out of tbe former method of doing work than by tbe latter. Occasionally, however,contractors tindertakejobsat unroinuoerative rates, and when this happens the dark side of the tender system comes out very prominently. Wo fear that tlio

.collapse of the Parkvillo bridge is another illustration of tlio folly of low tendering. It is said that the contractor, who has tbe reputation of being an industrious and worthy settler, took tbe contract at about a third less than fclje engineer's estimate. As a rule, engineers' ,estin)a},es aro very reliable, and in the present instance the range of other competing tenders verified its correctness. It

would, therefore, appear that the contractor, from the nioinent he signed his agreement, was committed

to a considerable loss. This is no\y augmented by the collapse in the structure, which is estimated to require about L3OO to make good, bo that the unlucky contractor, instead of making a fair profit of about LSO out of his undertaking, would seem tfl be more likely to lose LSOO. We sincerely trust that his losses will proyfl less serious than they are now supposed to he. Of pourso the rumors now piraujateij with respect to them require eonfaatjpn, and' may bp inaccurate, but in any .cage {lie losses are very serious. Besides the mopy loss, there must also bo taken into account the additional disaster which befel poor O'Brien. The question of pubjis interest which is specially involved, is whether the taking of the work ut a clearly rate in any way led up to the catastrophe. Wbon a contractor has

not sufficient money in his contract to carry Ins work through faithfully anil carefully, there is a natural tendency to do all that has to be done in the cheapest and speediest manner. We do not, without direct evidence in support of the assumption, maintain that in the present instance the low price at whioh the" contract was taken was a leading factor in the collapse of the bridge, We merely point out the expediency of an inquiry which will show uriraistakeably the cause of the misfortune. The contractor for the bridge may or may not be a victim to the cheap tender system. If he should be, wo would not desire to say a word which would irritate or annoy one who has his hands full of -trouble, but we would point out to others in the community who are 111 the habit of putting in tenders for public works, the extreme care and calculation that is necessary to secure them from risk of heavy loss. Reckless tendering has frequently in the past been a bane, not only to contractors, but' also to the trading community at their back. I We always regret to hear of instances of it, and now that times are mending | a little, and employment is more plentiful, there is 110 reason why tenderers should not secure contracts at rates which will at least leave them a small margin of profit.

The House yesterday, without a single dissentient voice, granted leave of absence to Mr George Beetham till

the end of the session. -The local agitation to unseat him is now

practically dead, It was confined to a very limited number of interested persons, who, in tlio words of our local contemporary, have no " high souled self sacrificing instinct,"

The Masterton Hospital Trustees meet to-day, A ploughman who understands a double furrow plough is advertised for in our wanted column. The death is announced of tlio Eev. Dr" West for eighteen years pastor of the Terrace Congregational Church Wellington, after a comparatively brief illness.

Eichard Stevens, who died at Seacliffc Asylum, aged 90, was 0110 of the first settlers in Kiverton in tho old whaling days, and a survivor of the battle of Watorloo.

George Whyte, late superintendant of the Nehon Lunatic Asylum, appeared at the K.M. Court, Wellington, yesterday, on a charse of embezzling sevoral sums of money from £l4 downwards

from the Government. Ho was re' niauded to Nelson.

Rudolph Raaka, the young German who escaped from gaol last September while waiting'his trial for arson, and who surrendered during tho Supreme Court session and was acquitted but received four months for breaking out of ?aol, was arrested on Tuesday at lnvercaraill, charged with stealing from the shop of his ompluyor a poeketbook containing £8 and two cheques for £75

9a and £llos, He was remanded. Thoß.M.s. Tongariro, from Plymcutl via the Cape, loft Hobart for Weilingtoi at 2 o'clock yesterday morning. Sin brings 28 passengers for Australian am 81 for New Zealand ports.

Tho lollowine team of the Ecd Stars will meet the Masterton Club for the Championship on tho Worksop Road ground on Saturday nextßacks D'Arcy, Thompson, Pelling. Watson, Pattorson, Hawlte; forwards. Hoar, Iggulden, W. Welch, J. Pelling, Freoth,

J. and 0. Percy, Ellison and C. Ewing-

Tho Superintondant and District Deputy of the Wnirarapa I.O.G.T's, Bvo. T. Collier, installed the following officers of the Masterton Juvenile Temple into their various chairs for the current term F. King, C,T,; E, Evernden, V.T.; C King, 8.; F. Martin, A.3.; F. Petersen, 0.; E, Tierney, F.S.: 0. Prangnell, T.; R. Johnson, M,; C. Feilding, 1.6.

Tho Masterton Horticultural Committee meet at tho Central-Chambers! this evening to fix the date of tho Sprint; Show andtonrrango the programme. Any pwson interested in this popular local institution who has a suggestion to mako for its benefit would do woll to wait upon the Committeo tonight before the programme is finally adopted. An extraordinary accident, resulting in the death of W. H, Adamson, aged eighteen years, took place last week in Helbourno. A young man named Benjamin Holt was running round tho corner of Swanston and franklin streets, when he struck violently against Adamson, who was turning tho comor from an opposite direction, and throw him on to tho pavement. Booing that Adamson was seriously injured, Holt took him to tho Melbourne Hospital, wiinro it was found that he bad received a fracture of the baso of tho skull and died three hours after he was admitted. Another largo seizure of contraband cigars and tobacco \yas made at Sydney recently—this timo on board the China

steamer Taiyuan, from Hongkong. Tho former seizures wero made 011 board the German steamar Hohenzollern, when ihe contraband articles were ingeniously ecretod in tho hollow parts of tho ife belts. Iu the case of tho Taiyuan tOO r ' ; 1 fourt 1

cigars and fourteon packages > tobacco woro discovered in false bottom ofbunks and inside n nurnbor ofPaniv ma bats nailed against the wall of the forecastle

Tlio London 'Garden' states, ivliat we have been aware of tor many years, that limo is a good preserver of timber. Ships and largos used for tlio conyoyaneo of lime last longer than otliera, In ono instance a small coasting schooner loaded with lime was cast .ashore and sunk, Being raised and set afloat after wards alio remained sound lor thirty years. A wooden platform, used for many years to mix lime on, was neglected and grown over with grass. Sixty years afterwards, on clearing the ground, the wood was found sound and well pre served. We have used lime wash for many years for board fences, which remained clean and sound after other fences had becomo covered with moss and partly decayed. A houso was shingled with cut shingles, not regarded as a durable kind; thirteen years afterwards when examined, all were found hard and sound. The limo should bo fresh and sharp, and made into a rash quite liquid, so as t,q partly enter the pores of the wood. Thiis treated fqr shingles, it is about as good as petroleum, —'Country Gentleman.' Byron,s lady love in "Love's Labor Lost" can (remarks the Pall Mall Gazette) no longer claim to be the only mortal ''born to make black fair," for a Gerfnan medical man has just dono the aamo thing in the litoral senso of the word. It appears that a ehprt time ago anegronndenventa surgical operation at Leipsic, ater which it became necessary to put several small portions of skin over the wound, tiie skin was takcji from tjvp wjiito persons, and as the wound bpgan to Ileal the fair color of these pieces of skin began to chapgo, and when the cure was completed had asumed the ebony color of the negros body. In order to find out the whether black skin could in the same manner be changed into fair, a small portion ot the skin of a negro was sewn over a wound in a white man's arm. Presently tho dark patch began to grow pale, and at the end of 14 weeks it had become so light that it could no longer be distinguished from the natural akin, Hamloti "The air biles shrewdly." Horatio, " It is a nipp'ng and an eager air, my lord." ' Had the philosophio Dane lived" in bur .dw'and he wquld, with thousand of op.eps', Jjfo'yß sought and obtained, the true Safeguard; cood, honest, Flannel, at Aro Houso, Wellington. "The wind that blows" and "the air" that "bites shrewdly" would have been successfully (lolieil by selecting from the many excellent makes of Flannel thgt are o had Te Aro Houso, W ellingtbu,'

Mossra' flalmm lima. - (Limited), of Hawkea Bay, report as follows :-»"Tlio inuttton market, is deolining. Best quality is quoted at s|d. Beef—Hindquarters, 4 3-8 d; forequartors, 3jd,"

Tho seventh annual exhibition of poultry, pigeons and canaries will bo opened at tho Garrison Hall Wellington, by his excellency the Earl of Onslow, at 2,30 this afternoon.

An Auckland telegram states that an interim dividend of 2s 6d in tho New Zealand Insurance Company has been declared. There is a general feeling of disappointment among the shareholders that they will not receive tho same dividondas usual, this is attributable to the numerous losses tho Company has sustained during the past half year, both in firo and marino branches. We remind our readers of the children's fancy dress Carnival, that takes place at the Eink to-night. All tho children that rink have been invited, and there will bo a large variety of costuraeß, from the cavalier in his sillts and satmß to poor Tppsy in his black face and flour sack. Tliero will be a grand march of the children in their costumes at nine to tho music of Mr Pearson's band. Adults will bo admitted to the floor at!), and will bo able to skate till 11 p.m.

The alarm sounded at six o'clock last night for a chimney fire at the Foresters Hall. About fourteen firemen with ladders and portable light engine turned out, the chimney being known as a dangerous one, and the building two storey's high. The flames were extinguished without any great difficulty. This morning a chimney fire occurred at a dwelling house in Chapel streot. Tho Brigades were promptly at their stations but their services were not called into requisition.

Sir Franois Bell writing to the Premier on tho recent rise in tho price of fla-t, says the increased demand for hemp will stimulatonow sources of supply, tnd bring down the market rate of to-day; but the phorminm tenax is always suro to find a strong placo some day in the hempen trade. That place, he thinks, is now assured, if only the growers will tako pains in the preparation of the hemp fur tho English and American markets, and nothing is mpro certain than that tho growers in tho colony have a reasonably profitable time before them if they accept this condition and send home only proporly-dressed hemp.

Wchave anextensivo range ot English and Colonial Manufacture, the former at prices unaffected by tho enormous increase of duty ami tho latter regardless of tho advance that Colonial makers have put on

their productions. In a word, we shall sella our Flannels of nil makers for last yeara rices at Te Aro House, Wellington,