THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS SOUTHLAND ELECTRIC POWER BOARD.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 27, 17 September 1920, Page 8

THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS SOUTHLAND ELECTRIC POWER BOARD.

Sir( and Gentlemen. — The last megting of the Board passed off vcry quietly, but it was evident that members had been reading "The Digger." Even Mr Hay has read it, and no doubt, he found it interesting and candid in its comment. The Board meeting has confirmed what we liave been saying "through the.se columns, regarding the administration of tne Board s affairs and the time is past when critieism should be of a suggestive character and we believe tliat the Board is decidedly weak. To illustrate this statement; take the question of tenders which were dealt with at the preceding' meetihg. At that meeting terrders for certain works were found to be in excess of the Engineers estimate. The Board refused i tliese tenders and decided to advertise . again. The Chairman reported at your last meeting that one of the, contractors nad agreed to accept the work at the cost estimated by the Engineer and the contract was *igned. Now, Gentlemen, the aecision of the Boai'd does not seern to count for much, and if the Board decided to advertise again— then, in fairnegs to other tenderers the wishes of the Boaxd should have been carried out. When the Chairman made this announcement, every member of the Board wore the look of disappointment, aaid we venture to state that members were not satisfied with the Chairman 's action. In face of these facts, not a member said a word. This Jf a ^eakxmss which any local body can o withont and a change in the personnel oi A nnmher of members of the Board

would be pubhshed report of h* fc certain correspondej^ ^ press took the trouhle t, from Nightcaps as aot>l ^ tionofboarding.houj m the mward corresnn^ per' % reference to firm of solicitors; makin? fl0D> l With the special committee11?0^ vestigate legal charees S "P H 1'he Board evade&Jeliil whole meeting and inT^Si the meeting when ntieasy about catching sheh'ed until next meetinl J ter that does not appear it'f) ^ J the . Auditor,' which stated Chairman goes abroad, the V if liable for the moiley; h itisillegalfor the Chairman.11"^ and Section 34 of the tfi N0lJ Boai-dls Act, which PTOiCjV". ment of "reasonable K?. capable of such ,, „id. i ? " » Both these matiere w,r, h, >1 ten aheets ef corresp„„d(noi *4 to say, are not in fc palli ~ S while. a very minor ^ Xightops incident wa, pclJ.C J 4 not blame fhe Bcard for uo, , * mcidents themselves liave bepp' , "" in these columns before and are ^ more explicit. S, th, Ac, j wide enough powere f„r llle proceed abroad, and now an an the Act is tc be placed „„ Book. If y„o conld ^ J N the realm of practical reality, C this, we should feel raor;'? During the discussion on eleetri^S tnery, the Engneer stated tta J Itngiiieers couid say what sort of etatid'i machmery wa, reqnired % J too'P ItTT' J' (oo ! But^why not canyitf.il, A conclusion ? Fnrthcmo,,, ther„|10>'? adequate provision for finance Ttr Board's overdraft at the bank is £25 1 os 8(1 nf addition to this there are liw committmente in addition to the several thousands of poMnds of tenders accepted .1 i last meeting. 0n the question of finance , you went into Committee and we* will await a statement from the Board in order that the public may know the flimsy fabric on which it rests. There was some justification for the Board going info Com. , mittee on this occasion, but when Ihings assume a more concrete /orm we have no hesitation in saying thattk hwl stald make a. statement. The supplwM^ port of the Engineer throws important light upon our previous comment regarding the Engineers' . agreement. TkEt- ! gineers claim the right to keep all actort 1 dealing with con spruction. They alreaij have their own office fn Invercargill. M o'ffice will have a complete record of 11 j transaction§ which come under the cilfr | gory of construction. Mr Campbell is the executive officer of the Board and will be j responmble to the Government -Auditor, >j Under the present machinery he will tar no records and we say definitely tM all | records should have their final restingjte ! under the Jurisdiction of the I'matm Officer, and that all other memhers gf the clerical st-aff should direct that etc. to his office. The Board mly ^ j that it is good policy to keep two sets of ; books, which are an exact copy oi one another, but we do not, and the pj«® position is not in tiie best interests of tj ratepayers. We heard some time ago tl» , there was friction over this matter at now we can understand it- a recej i issue of this journal we referred to a" j vertisement in tjie "Evening Post v ' ' applications were calied for a-8'8 electrical engineers.. 'Ihe business o "j *;ard proves that we were correct, and ^ again affirm the principle tnat al F tlcns should be advertised loca y, M as in other parts of,tlie Domimon, ttrings being equal, SoutUaji l ^ whether it is a question o suppfy of materials. The Pra).Ke A iilg outsidc the Boininion Mwsing nnd giving •« equal . opportunity is decidedly ^ ^ . Ariiother appointment at a j per week was made in a sinii ar . ^ It is not a question of Austi r t,; t Zealand, but that all posihons j rdvertised. — I am, etc., „ j EDITOR "DiG#|