CITY COUNCIL COAL CONTRACT

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21329, 23 November 1934, Page 20

CITY COUNCIL COAL CONTRACT

TO THE EDITOR OK TUB I'EESS. Sir, —Mi- Parlane is too inclined to criticise people instead of sticking to the subject the discussion is about. He excuses his party by saying the loss was only 30s; still even that is 30s of the public's money wasted. It puzzles me to know how his union came to know or say which tender was accepted. Mr Parlane is not on the council. Plow did he come to have a say in the matter? When tenders are called for anything by the council is it going to be the practice to consult union secretaries before deciding which tender will be accepted And, is the council going to be influenced by anything a union secretary may say without hearing what the person or firm concerned has to say? If so, we arc going to have a very undesirable state of affairs. I suppose this is part of the curse of Trades' Hall control; I would suggest the council gets its coal direct from the mines. There is a sufficiently large staff and equipment to be able to fit in the handling of a few tons of coal without overworking the staff. That would be a more business-like way than calling for tenders, and leliing union secretaries decide which was accepted.— Yours, etc., R.L., November 21, 19IM. [This correspondence is now closed. —Ed., "The Press."]