PARLIAMENTARY BUILDINGS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 13 February 1915, Page 8

PARLIAMENTARY BUILDINGS

TROUBLE REGARDING MARBLE. | . (United Press Association.) ! WELLINGTON, Feb. 12. A deputation representing the Stonemasons' Union waited on the Premier to-dav, and pointed out that there was a. dearth of employment for stonemasons. ... , f In replv, Mr Massey said the contractors for 'the new Parliamentary Buiiain<TS had discovered that while the small blocks of marble quarried at Sandy Bay were all right, the big blocks were defective, and could not be passed by the Government officials. That, he said, was what the contractors ought to have found out twelve months ago. The contractors contracted to provide the marble; the Government had nothing to do with it. He had already spent some £6O or £7O on sending officers of the Department over to see how the difficulty could be overcome, and it was reported that a 'better quality of marble could be procured from, another quarry, but the objection was that that would require a longer haulage, and. doinseqnently a greater expense. He was, he added, going into the- question very carefully, with the assistance of the Government law advisers. It was a big thing, and he was not going to have his hands forced. He did not want to act har,shly towards the contractors, who seemed to think that they were not bound to find the marble, but the law officers advised him that that was not so.