CR KEAST AND THE GASHOLDER FOUNDATIONS.

Evening Star, Issue 14548, 24 April 1911, Page 2

CR KEAST AND THE GASHOLDER FOUNDATIONS.

TO THB EDITOB. Sir,—At a meeting of the Council on December 27, 1909, to consider the conditions of the gasholder, shortly after a leak had been discovered, Cr Keast is reported by the Press as saying that ''he had been told by Mr Watson Rhodes (who built the foundations) that he (Mr Rhodes) had some doubt whether they were strong enough to hold the 13,700 tons weight. Cr Keast then went on to say that if his memory was right he had asked the question before, and had been answered in Council that the consulting engineer would stake his reputation on the foundations." At the same Council meeting Cr Barr is reported as follows:—"If Cr Keast knew that the foundation were not right, as a citizen of Dunedin he should have laid the matter before the authorities, and if, as stated, he had been doing his duty, he would have let tho Council know his opinions." Now, at the famous gas inquiry held two months later—i.e., February, 1910— Cr Keast declared that he had told me personally what Mr Rhodes had said. It is impossible to reconcile these two statements. At one time he says that he had raised the question in Council, at another time he declares instead that he had informed me personally. It is quite evident that the matter was not conveyed to me personally, for had that occurred I should naturally have promptly laid it before the Council. Though it is not, perhaps, relevant, the information would have been quite in my hands, for I was opposed to the consulting engineer, the gas engineer, and, indeed, to the whole of the administration, so, naturally, such evidence would not be to my interest to conceal. However, the incident, as far as its personal nature is concerned, is past and gone, but the lamentable feature still remains that £IO,OOO of the ratepayers' money has been wasted, and it is for the electors to decide whether Cr Keast has been altogether free from blame and responsibility for this loss.—l am, etc., John' M'Donald. April 24.