THE HARBOUR BOARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 136, 10 June 1922, Page 6

THE HARBOUR BOARD.

We hare received two letters—one ot them was published last week —criticising , the Harbour Board for undue secrecy in the conduct of its business, and we feel bound to say that we think there is some justification for the criticism. The Board seems to be too fond of conducting business in camera; it does not appear to realise fully that it is the servant of the public, and that the public is entitled to know what it is doing while this is being done. There is, for example, the possibility, which we deduced from a certain advertisement, of a railway being laid from Quay Street East to the Prince's wharf. We asked certain questions then, but those questions have not been answered. The Harbour Board, it is true, is not alone among local bodies in this tendency towards "secret diplomacy." There is a growing tendency in local government to come to important decisions and then tell the public that the thing is done. If it is wise the Harbour Board will take warning from what may' be described as the tender incident. At their last meeting members were very indignant about a letter asking whether the conditions of a tender had been varied in favour of the successful tenderers. The suggestion was described as impudent. But it was admitted, and the admission was repeated at the Chamber of Commerce meeting yesterday, that in another case a tenderer had been allowed to alter his tender. It is obvious from the circumstances that the letter to the Board arose out of confusion between the two cases, and this being so the indignation expressed by members strikes us as rather foolieh. The special reason in this admitted case may have heen ample justification for the course taken by the Board, though it is surely unquestionable that to allow a contractor to alter his tender establishes a dangerou3 precedent. A little more publicity in such matters would benefit both the Board and the public.