THE ACCEPTED RESIGNATIONS

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 302, 18 December 1912, Page 8

THE ACCEPTED RESIGNATIONS

AND '«'H »■! CEAEGES. MESIBERS AT CLOSE QUARTERS SALARIES W33CE WERE NOT INCREASE]}. THE CEATBMATTS ACTION APPROVED. When the chairman's report on the resignation of the two assistant engineers was read, Mr Gunson moved that the Board go into committee to consider the matter. -Mr Alison objected, urging that the discussion should take place in open Board. 'I hf. Chairman pointed out that it was customary for the Board, when the character and ability of its officers were concerned, to discuss the position in committee, and he considered it to be an advi sable course. Mr Virtue moved as an amendment that the whole matter be threshed out in committr-?, but that the Press representatives br invited to report the discussion. I Mr Ent.-icaii supported the chairman. i Thp whole thing would have to come I before the Board afterwards, and any membn would then have an opportunity jto make any comment he wished to make, ! said the member. i Mr Alison thereupon declared that- | unless the matter were threshed out in i open the confidence of the public in the ; Board would be badly shaken. I Mr Bradney contended it -was too 'ate ito attempt to hide what must go before i the public. I The amendment was ruled out of order, I and a further amendment, by Mr. Alison, that tbe letter accompanying the rel siguiLtion be read, was defeated by 5 to j Mr. Bradney then moved: as a further ! amendment: "That as Mr. Powell, who has been a trusted official of the Board for over nine years, and has proved himj self a highly-qualified and capable officer I and against whom no complaint has at , any time been made, the action of the I ehnirman in accepting his resignation I without consulting the members of the Board was. under the circumstances, inexpedient." CHARGE OF "THE G-AG." I This was seconded by Mr. Alison, -who i exclaimed that he did so because of the i studied and determined movement on the I part, of the chairman and a section of the I Board to conceal the facts. Members: Xo. no! Mr. Alison: Why should you determine to ,-oneeal and stifle all information? Mr. Entrican: I abject to such an expression of opinion. Mr. Alison: Perhaps you do, but look jto their own action —that is proof that ! th'_'y intend to conceal. You may go l into committee. Mr. Chairman, but you'll have to come out of committee, and then the facts will be bronght to light. I say again, it is a palpable and studied determination to prevent publicity of this question. Choruf of "No!" from members. Mr. Aliton : VV hen an official against I whcee ability and qualifications nothing ■is known sends in his resignation, and ; gives a3 his reason that certain works of 1 the Board are not being carried out I satisfactorily, then it is your duty to jthe public to let them know those '• reasons. Tou don't even allow the letter accompanying the resignations to be read to the Board. '•LET UP HAVE THE LETTER." I "Let ue have the letter read in public, !by all means" said Mr. Virtue. What ■ was there to hide, he asked. If they j went into committee the public would !at once say that the Board had something io hide. If the engineer was ri<rht. as he believed he wa3, let him come out on top. If not, let him go to the bottom. The chairman again explained that there was no desire to stifle discussion, and it did not say so either because the individual opinion of one member clashed with the opinion of another. He considerpd that the Board should first disicuss tbe matter in committee, and then ! afterwards it could be ventilated in open Board. The amendment was lost by 5 votes Ito S, and the Board resolved itself into committee to discuss the questions relating to the resignations. THE CHARGES. When the Board resumed Mr. (Hutchison moved: "That the action of the chairman be approved, and that the letter from Messrs. Powell and McKay be handed to the engineer, who T>e afforded even- assistance by the Board in dealing with the charges contained in it." The -chairman announced his intention later on to move that the letter be handed to the Press-lor publication. The letter was read as follows: — "As the result of very careful considera- ; tiou of the coLidition of the north wall, Free- ; been built" 'in reinforced concrete, and some harbour scheme, we = feel rompelled to inform you that in our opinion there are ' very grave danger in these existing works, i and that there is every reason to fear these : dangers may be perpetuated in future con- : si ructions. "We have from time to time drawn the attention of the engineer to these points, ' and it is in the conviction that lie does not realise Uie seriousness of the case. nor propose to take effective steps to avoid future α-angcr. that we have felt it to be our painful duty to briojr "the niiicter clearly before yourself. We are deeply sensible of the seriousness of the charge we thus lay upon Mr. lia-mer. for whom we both have tbe highest personal regard, and only the keenest sense of our duty towards the Board and to the public welfare compels v? to take this step. In regard to toe north wall Freeman's Bay, it is our positive opinion that nothing but the expenditure of a very large sum of money can now make this safe, and even then we doubt if it can be made a satisfactory engineering jo-b. •In tbe Railway wharf, Queen Street wharf. No. 4 jetty. etc.. there are notable signs of weaJcuessi's, and these we cannot now profess 'o see any practical way of| overeoinin.z. But these evidences of faulty! design were visible before a great deal of Tbe woi-k was executed, and since it is | proposed to continue other important works without due regard to the same, we must specially emphasise this as being of vital importance seems that the Board has several hundred thousand pounds sunk in these ■wharves, which are already showing signs or" failure. "In works of such magnitude, and where so much depended upon the use of a con> parativelv uufried material, reinforced concrete, tne institution of experimental and research work was a matter of prime importance. All suggestions and. recommendations to establish such investigations have been vetoed on the score of eiptuse. with tbe probable result that the Board wll be faced with enormously greater expenditure on the works themselves." The letter concluded by reference to the organisation of the department, which, it was declared, was abnormal, nearly all the re-Mjot'slble work being dove by men holding temporary positions at the will of the engineer. The result was that authority was coutlnunlly questioned, and work done uneronoralcally or left undoue. Such condlticiDs might lead to disaster, as no reHlionsiblllty coaWl be fastened on a temporary bUiSE. Matters, in fact, had assumed a serious aspect, and the writers had to I protect inenisolves by disclaiming responsibility for work carried on under I these conditions.

ENGINEER IN REPLY. T3b.e Engineer (Mr W. H. Exmer) submitted a report in reference to the letter. He stated ifcha-t on iNovember 14 Mr McKay wrote to the chairman asking for an improved poei-tnra on the Board, and an increase of salary. On Jsovember 27 Mr Powell had informed Mr Hamer that ■he expected an increase of salary by £200 a year, and. stated that if the engineer iheld -he was unlikely to obtain a rise of salary, he knew what to do, and spoke of private practice. On December (j both resigned. Their statement that the engineer "'does not realise nor propose to take steps to avoid danger, and thai mistakes would be perpetuated, was as amazing ac it -was false. No statement needing attention had ever been passed over. The north wall had had his constant pereonal attention, and a fortnight ago be had consulted Mr Powell ac to the best mean© for reinstating the broken portion, and Mr Po-well had commenced drawings. A large sum was being tperet t-o make tihe wall secure by a blueelone bank, which he himself had desired to avoid by getting euita-ble matierdal free of cost. The Railway wharf. Qu-een Street -wharf, and No i jetty were magnificent structures, and ■had the usual haircracks due to-expansion and common to every structure of the kind. Draw-ings of several of these works were Bigned as examined and approved by Messrs Powell and McKay. He had no report from Mr Powell as to any alleged danger in any structure. The organisation of the office was thoroughly good, and he knew of no single instance in wihjch autJiority had been questioned, or work done wrongly or left undone; and the staff a.nd '.nspectors all denied knowledge •of such a. thing. A MATTER FOR INVESTIGATION. Mr. Alison said -that the accusations made by the men who had resigned were of such a nature that a full investigation should be made. They charged the engineer with inefficiency in carrying out the Board's work, so that the works, or some of them, were in grave danger. Nothing but the expenditure of a large sum of money could make the north wall safe, they declared, and even then they douibted whether a good job could be made of the work. That was their charge, and such a charge ought to be investigated. The statement regarding the Queen Street wharf was also one which should be investigated, for those statements were signed by men whose professional reputation was at stake. They were not the idle sayings of men in the street. The whole letter contained the clearest charge of inefficient engineering, yet members of the Board would not agree to an investigation into the truth of the charges. The chairman had decided that the men had written the letter in a feeling of pique and resentment at having failed to obtain increases of salary, but he would move: "That a special meeting of the Board, open to the Press, be held early in January, to investigate the charges made by Messrs. Powell and McKay." A LIVELY PASSAGE. Mr. Bradney seconded the amendment, expressing the opinion that it was unfair to the engineer himself to put him into a position that was invidious. Mr. Bradney was proceeding to comment on the presence of the engineer during the discussion, when Mr. Virtue interjected, "British."' Mr. Bradney: I am as British as you are, I shall call you the clown of "the Board if you persist in such interjections. Mr. Virtue: And we wfl] call you the fool of the Board. Both members jvere called upon to withdraw, and did s*o, and Mr Bradney continued his remarks, in the course of which he declared that he was informed by men twelve months before the fall of the north wall that it would fall. They talked about inspection. He doubted ii any of them had done as much inspection as he had done. And he had seen tons of steel bars and other material swallowed up in reclamations. Bungle after bungle had been made, and work had been done twice over time after time. THE RETORT DIRECT. Mr. Virtue declared that he had seen things, too, and he contended that it was absolutely untrue that tons of steel and other thing 3 had been buried. The engineer had shown himself to be a man of backbone and calibre by refusing to be dictated to by two of his staff, who straightway in pique sent in their resignations and wrote a letter full of malicious charges. Mr. Entrican said he believed that every member of the Board was just as anxious to have the discussions of the Board open to the public as were Messrs. Alison and Bradney. Even Mr. Bradney himself had expressed his confidence in the stability of the Queen Street i wharf. As to Mr. Bradney's previous knowledge about the fall of the north wall, he should have given the Board the tip, and thus have done his evident duty to the Board, enabled it to take precautions against the fall, and have covered his own name with illustriousness. MOTION CARRIED. The amendment was lost, the voters for it being Messrs. Alison, Bradney, Taylor, and Kneen, and against Messrs. Heather, Keys, Bond, Fisher, Virtue, Entrican, Hutchison, Bagley, and the chairman. A further amendment by Mr. Kneen, "That the Minister of Marine be asked to set up a commission of inquiry into the truth or otherwise of the charges contained in the letter," was also negatived, and the original motion carried. ,