TELEGRAMS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 10, 11 July 1912, Page 3

TELEGRAMS.

MISTAKE IN ADDITION COUNCIL AND CONTRACTOR. [BY XSUSCOUPK— SraOIAIj' TO THE COST.] WAIMATE, This Day. Soon after the drainage contracts were signed ten month? ago, it was discovered that there was an error of £100 in addition, making the contract price that amount less than it was meant to be. The corrected total, however, is ctilL lower than the next lowest price. The council decided about January last that upon th* completion of the contracts to the satisfaction of the council, Mr. O'Neill, the contractor, should get his £100, provided there were no legal objections. The newly-elected Mayor, Mr. John Black, referring to the £100 ot a special meeting of the council last Friday, said that if the council had allowed the contractor to sign this contract, knowing there was a mistake in it, they were very much to blame. He thought, personally, that it was rather an unfair position for the council to put men in. He did not see what good there was in shirking this matter, and he was determined that the unfair treatment of these men should be enquired into. Councillors hotly resented the imputation, and severally denied any knowledge of the error. Last night, at the ordinary meeting, councillors demanded an apology from the Mayor, the Deputy-Mayor stating that never in thirty years' experience had any such insinuation been made regarding the integrity of the council. The Mayor retracted, and expressed regret. He stated he had not known of the existence of the minuto passed in