MANAWATU HIGHWAYS' CONTRACTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 83, 17 June 1879, Page 2

MANAWATU HIGHWAYS' CONTRACTS.

On behalf of contractors residing at Foxton, we protest against the action of the Manawatu Highways Hoard, which really appears to be attempting to convert that body into a Palmeraton affair altogether. We protest on two grounds ; first, tenders are called for two works in the Sandon district— the formaiion of Campion's and Frecklington's lines. of road. Although it is known a large number of contractors reside iv Foxtou and its neighborhood, the specifications are lying only at a store in Sandon, and the Highways office, Palmerston. If, then, any of the contractors residing at Foxton or its vicinity desire to tender, they must travel either to Palmerston or Sandon to read the specifications. This is simply monstrous. Evsry facility should be given to contractors to see the specifications, as the more tenderers the cheaper the work is likely to be done. A second matter we refer to with diffidence, as it relates to advertising. The advertisement inviting tenders has not been forwarded to this office, and consequently does not appear in the Ma - ?a■watu Hbuald. This is a piece of gross jobbery. Owing to its intimate connection with Sandon, and the identity of the interests of Foxton, Sandon, and Carnarvon, this journal is the lecognised organ for the whole south portion of the Manawatu County. It has a large and in* creasing circulation in the Sandon and Carnarvon districts, and we con--1 fidentiy assert that as an advertising medium for those districts it is superior to any other Manawatu paper. The various journals are necessarily confined to their own particular districts, and Sandon is undoubtedly in that which we call ours. We have no wish to make an attack upon Mr John Taylor Dalrymple, who is for the time Chairman of the Manawatu Highways Board. He may be a star of the first magnitude in the political sky ; and he may not. But we do say that if he has worked himself into the idea that Palmerstbn is Manawatu, the residents of Sandon, Carnarvon, and Foxt jn do not share in the mistake. The expenditure of a few shillings by the lioard in our advertising columns is not likely to make us, nor will its absence break us ; but on behalf of the public who are interested iv pub* lie notices and tenders, we protest against the attempt to publish all advertisements for tenders in a paper which happens to be printed in the vicinity of the Board's office.