The Evening Mail. MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 44, 12 June 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1876.

IUSTty ttivubK our readers will have noticed by i telegra;u» published in ottr tames of Friday »nd last, that a great deal of t'ttsw lias hum inaflt? in Iftrtiedin lately over Home tenders, called by the Government a &H- the- uonatrttettoiv of certain locomo- ! tivei*. On locking over ottr Dunedin tiles, I we art* forced to the cotielttston that there [•|l«rtfc«n great cry an* little wool. It was

stated that a deputation, headed by a man named M'Larks, had presented a petition signed by 100 practical mechanics, drawthe Superintendent's attention to the tact that some locomotives had been constructed for the Government without l>emg duly and legally tendered for. Of course the importance of a petition is judged in a great measure by the class of pwrsons who sign it, and the weight of influence it exerts is measured to a large extent by the person who presents it. Now, let us look for a moment at

(~*■*,» shwti of the man —we can scarcely call him a gentleman who headed the deputation to his Honor «>vt«r this locomotive-tenders business. The person in question is John M'Laken, a MEtow who exists by selling old clothes, damaged stationery, steel pens, and secondhand belt-toppers. If }™« ask Ml - M'Lakkx what he is, his answer will be, a working man. We are very much inclined, from a long knowledge of Mr. M'Lare>-'s past life, to disbelieve this assertion. Tite only work we have ever known him to d» r has been to assist his ftdtow-Khclter of New Zealand, J. G. S. Grant, in a futile endeavour to disturb the mind* of the working-nieii of the Colony, and make them believe they are the veriest serfs in Christendom. It is scarcely fair to couple Grant'* name with Mr. M'Lakkn-'s for one reason, and that is, that the former m possessed of a fair education and splendid abilities, unfortunately misapplied, white the latter has not the slightest pretensions to any education, and b merely a drone in the Colonial hive. Our contemporary, the " Gtr.rdian," in atlttdtng to this deputation, describes the man who headed it as an " individual who delights to call himself a working-man, who glories in speaking of the wrongs of thtr working-man, who acts as a loudmouthed champion of the working-man, and who is never so happy as when he is gulling the working-man, belongs to a «tass—fortunately a very small one as 3'et here—who are not working-men in any sense of the word, and who, by a lack of cleanliness i» pefton, thought, and language, bring discredit on anybody who h;-,9 to undergo the infliction of being associated with them in ever so slight a degree." Having thus briefly pointed out to our readers the class of man who got up tEtis furore re locomotive-tenders, we will turn to the point in question. For some time past a long correspondence has been going on in the columns of one of our Dttnedin contemporaries endeavouring to prove that the firm of James Daviiwox and C0..0f theOtago Iron Works, had been specially favoured in the matter of these tenders. He fore proceeding further, we may state that we have no acquaintance with the firm, bud are merely taking the subject np it;t public grounds, ft is only those persons who are allowed a peep behind the scenes that can really understand the true reasons for this unwarranted fuss, and the nasty remarks which have appeared in one of our Dttfteditt contemporaries regarding the transactions of JD.wti'.so.v and Co. with the Provincial Government. Jealousy is at the bottom of it all. A firm in Dunedtn anticipating large orders from the Government, went to some expense in procuring plant ami machinery for the construction of railway carriages and locomotives. To its surprise it found that another firm was equally as well prepared to txcettte these large orders, and a member of the disappointed firm poured his tale of woe into the editorial ears. It must be awfully annoying, we know, to the big firm to line! that it cannot monopolise the whole of the Government orders ; but then, these mistakes will occur in the best regulated families. This is the real secret of the row. We consider that Mr. Jami:s Davidson's explanation of the matter most satisfactory, and we conclude this article with an extract from his letter to aDuncdiu contemporary on the subject. He says : "In the question of our supplying two locomotives to the Government, a very few wonts wilt suffice to show the true position of matters. Having been favoured by an order from the Kaitangata Kailway and Coal Company for a locomotive, we determined upon building other two, as thereby we would reduce the cost, and because we had many enquiries for such engines. . . . We distinctly had no

order from the Government for these enfinest, and were in treaty with private parties for t!ic sale of same since the arrival of our imported goods. The Government required locomotives of this etaas. for Oamaru especially, as can be proved by the newspapers, and their attention Wing called by myself to the fact of our having two in hand, they saved time and expanse by buying from us, besides giving employment to a good many mechanics, in whose cause your leading articles and the letters of your correspondents were written."