LOCAL BOARD CONTRACTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 45, 4 February 1881, Page 2

LOCAL BOARD CONTRACTS.

+ We feel a delicacy in referring to a matter in whioh the proprietors of this journal •*re pecuniarily interested, nevertheless upon public grounds we think the L >eal B >ard are adopting a penny wise n><] pound foolUh policy in neglecting to ;ilvertiae for t«ndera for their work. Of late several contracts have been let, tho only intimation to tenderers being a notice stuck in the window of Mr Palmer's shop. This was done a few days ayo in lefereuco t<> ■* contract for road formation on tho Tramway. Mark the result. Although it w v merely a matter of labour, requiring n>> outlay, and thua enabling the contractor to earn every penn> of tho money, only three tenders were received— one £25 10 1. a second £24. and the third £20 s*. The lowest tender was accepted, and though we are not able to say that the work w>nld have been done cheaper if the contract had been advertised in the ordinary way, the small number of tenders seat in suggests that the " shop-window " system of advertising i* not a sticcess, and where there are numerous tenderers the work is generally done cheaply. How are working men living in outlying parts of the district to know the Board invites tenders uuless they learn it through the Press? If the Board perpetuate the plan they have lately started, it would be well for every contractor in the Poxfcon district to pay fre quent viaitß to the Clerk's shopwindow to ascertain if tenders are called. Of one thing we are certain, viz., that if on one side is placed the few shillings the Bo r ) pays for a tender advertisement and on the othe» the amount it stands to lose by insufficient advertising, the ratepayers would prefer p»> ing the f ortner'te losing tb» l»tt«r.