CONTRACT V. DAY LABOUR.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 58, 4 March 1909, Page 8

CONTRACT V. DAY LABOUR.

A QUESTION OF RETRENCHMENT

For many months past institutions of various-kinds have felt the financial depression that has'been experienced in the Dominion, and each in turn has had to resort to retrenchment in order to avoid financial embarrasment. It would appear from the discussion at the Lower Wairau River Board, last night, when the finances were under consideration, that that body, has felt the pinch, and that it intends to fall into line with numbers of other local bodies in the matter of retrenchment and economising. Mr T'arker brought up the matter of expenditure, and in doing so intimated that the time had come-when the Board should consider the question of letting any work exceeding £10 by contract. He pointed out that the owners, of teams, while-not paying the same price for horse feed that they were, last year, were being paid the same, rate of wage per day as they were whe,n', feed was dear. He considered .if tenders were called for works of any magnitude they .would be done cheaper. He thought, the contract system; should be .given; a trial in preference to day^■ labour. There had been.1 complaints made;-by ratepayers relative to the.expenditure on the present system, and he considered the Board should take some fiction. '

Mr Carr said he had heard many complaints by ratepayers, and thought it was time to make a move in tlie direction of altering the existing state of affairs.

The Chairman said all work had been well done, he had watched the works closely, and was very well satis; fied with the way in which they had been done. 'Concerning the alleged compalints that had been made he thought it the duty of any ratepayer who was dissatisfied, and who s had any complaint to make, tp attend a meeting of the. Board'and state his ocmplaints, and not go outside ,the Board and mako them,, ~ , ,"./.,' Mr Carr said, he did hot agree with the CahirmanV,.' The Board was elected to represent the ratepayers, and. it was for the members jto see that things were carried out in a proper and economical manner.

The Chairman replied that he was of the opinion that the system that had been in force had been the best the Board had had.

Mr McKay endorsed the statements made by Mr Carr, giving as his reason for so doing that the Board should keep sounder on its finances. Regarding the- remarks made by Mr Parker, Mr McKay thought that gentleman was not speaking from experience, but merely'from what he heard from the man in the street. There was no doubt that horse feed was cheaper now than it had been, but he thought the teamsters should reap the benefit in the fall of fodder, seeing that they had to buy it when it was dear, and do the work for the same price as they were receiving now. Ho realised that the Board should economise, and the Inspector should be instructed to retrench wherever possible. He had received no complaints as to any reckless expenditure • from any of tho ratepayers. With regard to the proposal to give the contract system a trial, perhaps Mr Parker or someone else who had teams would undertake to tender for the work at a less rate than was being j>aid at the present time. He was satisfied with* the work that had been done for the money paid by the Board. The Inspector* should be instructed as to the number of men that- should bo employed. ' • Mr McCallum said,'the Board had got good value for its money, but lie thought tho best work would be got through the contract! system. The Chairman said the members of the Board had really dono their utmost at all times for the ratepayers. In reference to the contract system, he said the work of the Board generally was not of the kind that could be let by contract, there was practically no straight going work, and thit systsm would not work at the present time. He had no objection to the contract system providing the work was of a kind that could be gone straight on with. They should run as cheaply and,economically as possible, and that the Board was doing that he was satisfied, and it was also doing its best as cheaply as possible, mid there was absolutely nothing for the ratepayers to find fault with. He had been on the Board a long time, and had always^endeavoured to do his best in the interest of the ratepayers, for by studying them he was studying himself, as he also had to pay rates. He was confident the Board could not do more under the contractsystem than it was doing, and he thought it, would be in a worse position. The team work'at the present time was practically finished, unless something .unforeseen happened. It was decided to give the contract system a trial, and that tenders be invited for all works which are estimated to cost over £10.