MIRAMAR METAL CONTRACTS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 165, 6 April 1908, Page 5

MIRAMAR METAL CONTRACTS.

Sir,—All thinkers must' admit that if the. Present.' national, .borrowing .policy, is not. curtailed and eventually; stopped New. Zealand will bofore many years' bo a good place to be oiit of. Mi;. : F. Wi Burke in The Dominion of the ,18th inst. shows a comparison between Kansas, Maryland and ; Connecticut, being ■well-managed; States, as compared to our' debt-burdened Dominion. Mr. F. W. Burke gives as a remedy aii increase. of the land. tax. He cannot be a farmer. Have we not enough taxes already. We, want taxation direct ind indirect reduced.' How can wq manage this? I' have an idea .which may: or may aot be worth much. , '.I maintain that those who make a living jut:of /the- land' should .own their sections! If all were given tho right of purchase many would avail themselves of the opportunity 'to gain the By. this means money to a considerable . amount could be'-raised to reduce. the country's debt. Again! tho present extravagant Administration has taken; up \. undertakings that should bo worked) by companies such as coal, mines, sawmilling, etc, These could be. sold and' help to ; pay ,oUr ; debt. ._;.Agaih-, .'therp, are, therailways , that require borrowed capital .to run them. If sold to a company bound to suitable rules the public\would havo a better service' and money could be raised to help reduce , our debt. - -Y .It is the .duty..of-all those v/ho havo tlie future success of this Dominion'at'heart, to: start now iand work to remedy these troubles. ' Some people say, "Oli,- we will sell out and go to Canada or America." Wo have, all heard that'rats leave, a'leaky ship, fo let.'us, who have, the .sense','to see ahead get to work , and instead of . leaving what to us is our native land, stick together and' at next election'; return men' pledged to effect necessary reforms. I am.a farmer at present, and farming is 'returning' no profit. Wool,' sheep, ; flax and cattle, are at bedrock, and in spite of the .raptures of J. G. Ward the country is not'in too good a state. We .'want solid good business logic from our Premier.' Wo can think and calculate, and if instead of saying everything is right and prosperous he told the truth it would be better. As he knows we the farmers of the North, have mostly been burned out, and have low prices to put up with. Tho secret '.jf tho present unsatisfactory financial position of this Dominion, is that tho labour unions,'composed of people without a sufficient knowledge of political jconomy, have returned Parliamentary members as inexperienced as themselves to fight their battles. If these people had been satisfied with improved labour conditions it would ha, all. right, f ,but their 'itembers to a, man have voted to Aiphold the ruinous borrowing policy of 'thoiSeddon and Ward Governments. Has thcre*he'en rear prosperity ■ during the time these Governments have run New Zealand? It \Pas borrowed capital ,that was worked, ori, and we'all know that our borrowing power'is limited by our security, and that unless'we practice economy and that promptly: all far-seeing people of tho Emoire building, class : will leave Now Zealand ire the creditors claim their due.—l am, otc, , ' G. 11. MACKENZIE, M.4 25, ______

Sir,—Owing to the somewhat full report that appears in your issue this morning 011 Khnt transpired at last night's meoting of th» Miramar Borough Council rn tho above subject, it might be. as well in the interests of tke of the district to cite the fasti w tho case, and I crave your indulgence to publish them. • r !> ¥ir*itnir Borough Council has been calling fer tenders to supply tho metal in two diiiv.'reut contracts. These were responded to by ilir»ittir, Limited, and Mr. A. D. Crawford, »r,d they wore referred to the Borough Buijmeor, Mr. Hanify, with the objcct of obtaining his opinion as to -which, tender 'should ho accepted. Jlr. Hanify advised the Council to accept the tender of Mr. Crawford, despite tho fact thit it was the higher of the two, contending that the stone. was of superior quality; I urged strongly upon the Works Committee of the Council ..that outside opinion should bo obtained as to the nature of the stone.

before deciding which tender should be accepted, as a very big question was involved, namely, that if tho metal of ono quarry wero condemned, it would give tho owner of tho other a completo monopoly, and that the Council, in calling for future tenders, would have to reckon upon much higher prices. In this matter I wag overruled, in so far that tho Works Committee decided to accopt iilr. A. D. Crawford's tender for tho larger of tho two contracts—namely that for Princes Street and Broadway—and in the case of tho other contract the Committee referred the matter back to tho Council with a.rccommoadiiion that Mr. A. D. Crawford's tender should also bo accepted for the Matai Road and Eima Street contract.

> In the interim I called upon whom I deem to bo two of the best experts in this city— namely, Messrs. J. P. Maxwell and Gerald Fitzgerald, to furnish mo with a report upon the nature of tho stone in both quarries. I oncloso you a copy of thoir report, and shall 'feel obliged if you will publish From this you will observe that in the opinion of theso two men (and I leave tho Miramar ratepayers to decide whether I have chosen wisely or not) , there is no material difference between the stone of cither quarry. I forwarded .a copy of this report to His Worship tho Mayor of Miramar, requesting him to lay it upon tho table at last night's meeting, and, as'might have been expected, a sultry storm resulted. Ultimately it was decided that the report of Messrs. Maxwell and Fitzgerald should be forwarded to, tho Borough Engineer, Mr. Hanify, with a request that lie mako a further report upon tho stone of tho two quarries. _ .._ This, of course, places Mr. Hanify in a very awkward position.- Ho has either got to swallow his previous opinion, after making further, tests, or lie must 'still adhere to his own opinion, and leavo tho Council to comp to the conclusion that neither Messrs. Maxwell nor Fitzgerald know what they fire talking about. Some of tho councillors intimated that, when Mr. Hanify's further report comes up for consideration at tho next mooting of the Council, thoy intend to support him; but tho difference in price between the tender of Mr. A. D. Crawford and Miramar, Limited, amounts to over £200 of ratnpa3'or3' money, and should Mr. Hanify still maintain ( that Mr.. Crawford's stono should be accep'ted in the faco of eminent engineers and authorities'on the question, upwards of -£200 of the ratepayers' money will go straight into itlie pockets'of Mr. A. DCrawford, and, to say tho least of' it, the matter is well worthy of ventilation. Furthermore, I contend that tho Council had no right to accept Mr. A. D. Crawford's tender for Broadway and Princes Street'without ther testimony from reliable sources to justify their action.

The Miramar, Ltd., quarry supplied ,7000 yards of stono for tramway construction, and has supplied the bulk' of tho road metal in the district, and at the present moment from 800 to .1000 yards of first-class metal is lying at.grass, and open to inspection to 'all who choose to see it. ' ' The : dispute that"exists is of more th'an passing interest to tho district, as, if ; thb Council, guided by their engineer, once commit themselves so far as to condemn, tho quarry that is upheld by the highest authorities— (and I may .here state that it is already, shut-down ponding the results of; the present investigation)—the Council in future will unquestionably be left entirely in, the. hands of Mr: A. D. Crawford as to what price they should pay for their stono. In conclusion,' I think the matter of. sufficient public interest to be worthy of . the fullest ventilation, and take tho earliest opportunity of drawing public attention thereto.—l am, etc., • R. CHASE-MORRIS. ' April 3. ' ■ ' ' ' ■ (Copy of Report.) 1 Wellington, March 31,1908.. ' R. Chase-Morris, Esq., Wellington. _ Dear Sir,—Pursuant to 'instruction, we begvto report having examined the Miramar, Limited, quarry, yesterday. The'motal which has been quarried for sale as ■ "firstclass": 'would be accopted without question as a compliance with any specification requiring first-class road metal. We inspected tho road and tritaiway ■ whero this quality of metal has-been subjected *o heavy traffic, and . noted that it has done excellent service, and- evidently warrants tho' classification above-mentioned. < By .tho' courtesy of Mr. A. Crawford, we were enabled to examine his quarry upon , the sea'coast beyond Scatoun> whore the first-class metal- is also of excellent quality. There is, in fact, • no material difference between tho first-class-motal obtained from each'of these quarries. Tho structure.of the stone, as seen under high magnifying power, is practically identical, being blue, or bluish grey in colour and of a compact crystalline formation. Further information might be obtained by a comparison of: tests for specific- gravity, abrasion, arid crushing, hut wo- have had no opportunity to make these tests, becauso a considerable number of specimens would havo,! to bo prepared for testing, and tho work irir volved would occupy a Tongor period than js at present. available. Y The ' Miramar, Limited, quarry has been opened for more than a year, Mr. Crawford's quarry! is now in process of being oponed. • (Signed) J. P. MAXWELL, ' V /..;. y M.-Inst. C.E. ; - GERALD EITZGERALD, "Ass. M. Inst. C.E.