A MISTAKE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 119, 16 November 1909, Page 3

A MISTAKE.

PETONE'S WHARF. ACTION BY THE HARBOUR ■ BOARD. The debate on the subject of Petone's unstable wharf was continued by the Harbour Board after The Post went to piess yesterday. Mr. R. Fletcher, continuing his speech, criticised Mr. Ferguson's judgment in planning the whart without taking borings. "The whole thing seems to have been gone about in a hap-hazard way," commented^ My. Fletcher. He contended that Mr. Ferguson had opportunities to get reliable information aboat the nature of the bottom at the site of the wharf. If Mr. Ferguson — after the soft driving became known — was not consulted, why was the board paying him £500 a year? Mr. Fletcher referred adversely to this retaining fee (which the board last year decided to allot for five years). He argued that the board, which was not "flush" iv its finances, could not afford to retain the services of Mr. Cachemaille. Mr. C. E. Daniell said that he thought the chairman (Mr. Wilford) ha,d put (he matter fairly. He believed the plans were properly drawn on the information available. Mr. J. W. M'Ewan contended that the board, which appointed the acting- j engineer, and the man who recommended him, should share in the responsibility. He felt disposed to be lenient to Mr. Cachemaille, and would not support any proposition to remove j him from his present position. Mr. M. Cohen said ho understood I that Mr. Cachemaille was Mr. Ferguson's nominee. It seemed to the speaker that Mr. Ferguson, officially or unoificially, should have been able to gain some knowledge of the subsidence, and interested himself in this matter. A system should be instituted by which communications between officers of tho board, on -important points, would be conveyed in writing. He thought it was undesirable to severely punish Mr. Cachemaille. The Hon. T. K. Macdonald said that the evidence pointed to a peculiar state of things. The board's function was to find out who was responsible for the mistake, and do its duty by the public. He was very sorry to take up a position antagonistic to Mr. Cachemaille or any other officer, but it was necessary to take precautions against the recurrence of mistakes which would involve similar liabilities. -He thought that the time had come for an investigation into the whole of the board's affairs. Was Mr. Cachemaille responsible for ttib recent mistake or the board ? .Action should be deferred for a month till Mr. j Cachemaille had had a full opportunity ! to study the evidence. If Mr. Ferguson was to blame in the roattor, the Petone members of the board were even more to blame. The chairman interjected that he was sometimes called upon to act as a scientific or medical expert, but he had tt» confess that he was not an engineer. Mr. Macdonald moved that further consideration of the subject should be deferred till the board's next meeting. Mr, Bolton, in seconding the motion, maintained that the board could not be held responsible for an engineering mistake at the Petone wharf merely because it had appointed the acting-en-gineer after "reasonable- enquiry." After further discussion, Mr. Macdonald's motion was lost, and the following proposal, moved by the chair- j man, was carried : — "That the actingeiigineer was in fault in not, at the time of the .discovery of the soft nature of i the ground, bringing the fact before I the board, in order that steps could j then have been taken to remedy the defects then existing." I It was decided to instruct the engineer (Mr. Marchbanks) to prepare a report regarding his staff. I Mr. Cohen's' lecommendation about the advisableness of having all engineering reports put in writing was | adopted.