"IT IS MISLEADING."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 68, 22 March 1938, Page 10

"IT IS MISLEADING."

CONTRACTORS' REQUEST.

ALTERATION IN AWARD.

"The letter as it stands is misleading," eaid the Hon. B. Martin, M.L.C., speaking at a meeting of the council of the Auckland University College yesterday afternoon, when a letter from a contracting firm was read asking that an increase in costs due to an alteration in an award should be met by the council. The council decided that the matter should be referred to the architect, Mr. Roy A. Lippincott. and that the contract be adhered to unless there was a clause in it providing for a change in an award. The letter referred to was one ad-

dressed to Mr. Lippincott from a firm of electricians interested in the building of the new biology block at the college. The letter stated that on March 14 a new award covering electrical wiremen had come into force. The new rate of wages meant an increase of 3d an hour, and the difference in labour costs as compared with the quotation would be £23.

In a covering letter the architect stated that inasmuch as the cost of labour was due to an a*ward binding on the firm by Government Act, and which they could not have foreseen or estimated when the contract was signed, it seemed fair that they should be compensated for the extra cost.

Mr. Martin eaid that the letter from the firm put a false construction on the position. It made the position appear as though it was the result of the present Government's legislation, whereas in reality there had been a possibility that an award would be changed in the middle of a job which extended over a period of years. Some awards were made for as short a period ae six months. The firm in question, he said, were well enough established to be acquainted with that risk, and they should have provided for it. Furthermore, he disagreed with Mr. Lippincott's letter when it stated that the extra cost was one which the firm could not have foreseen. A changed award was a common occurrence. The firm was ehort-sighted not to have foreseen it. In previous years, Mr. Martin added, awards had been changed, so that wage rates had been reduced, making the wages cost lower than was provided for when the contract was signed. "I have never heard of a contracting firm turning to the client and making a corresponding reduction in the contract when that happened," he added.

The council adopted Mr. Martin's view.