The Opunake Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1895. OMATA AND PARIHAKA ENGINEER.

Opunake Times, Volume II, Issue 97, 7 June 1895, Page 2

The Opunake Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1895. OMATA AND PARIHAKA ENGINEER.

At the last meeting of the Taranaki County Council rather a warm letter was received from Mr A. O'Brien, the engineer for the Parihaka and Omata Ridings. When applications were called the alternative was allowed of either stating a fixed salary, or a per centage on the expenditure. On this latter system Mr O'Brien was appointed. The ratepayers, therefore, would naturally expect that then, when they were paying him to see to the expenditure of their money, that he would have control of the works in the two ridings, and be the responsible party for the proper carrying out of works on their behalf. It also goes without saying, according to the practice of all local bodies which conduct their business in anything like a sensible manner, that all those who are engaged on such works are under the control or supervision of the engineer, otherwise it would be only a waste of money paying Mm. A system of foremen was then instituted for the various ridings, such foremen to put in the principal part of their time in works and repairs, aud in the event of works being undertaken where a number of men would be employed, the foremen would act as ganger over them, but according to all custom would be subject to the supervision of the duly appointed engineer. In the ease of the foreman of the Parihaka Riding this system is completely turned topsy-turvy, and we have the chairman of the Council making the extraordinary statement that the foreman is not the subordinate of the engineer. The engineer, finding his authority interfered with by members of the Council, very naturally " got his back up," and stated his objections in very forcible language, which apparently stood the bristles of the members' hair on end, and caused them to stand on the small amount of dignity they possess, but being such an infinitesimal quantity it proved to be a very insecure foothold. One member said the letter might have been meant as a lecture to a lot of schoolboys, but we hope our schoolboys will have a little more regard for decency in dealing with thejr fellow men than to warrant such a comparison, if they have once passed out of the infant classes. Unwarranted statements have been made by members of the Council against the engineer, which, if true, should have demanded the immediate dismissal of the engineer, but were allowed to pass by the Council, and subsequent instructions issued to him to supervise messed-up speciiications which the Council fixed without any previous reference to him. The Eltham Road was let in five contracts. Four of these were completed aud passed by the engineer, and have given satisfaction to the ratepayers on the road, who are'the ones most interested, ns they have a heavy rate to pay for them. In addition to this we value their opinion, as we are satisfied there are men amongst them who know more about gravelling than all the member*: of the Council bunched to-

gethef. The fifth contract was let, and the engineer condemned the ma-. terial being used. The contractor wen!; to the Council and got the specificaiio is altered. Under the new specifications, we understand, there was vpo supervision required of the shingle to' be used, the blinding alone being subject to enquiry. Mr McGloin then appeared on the scene, and virtually, without any authority, attempted to take the work out of the engineer's hands, and created a thorough mess. We felt called on at the time to call attention to this action, and Mr McGloin informed us, in a letter which we published, that his actions would be quite regardless of any scribe who learnt road-making sitting behind a desk all day. We do not profess to be expert in road-mak-ing, but if this contract is a sample of what Mr McGloin knows about it, the sooner he gets behind a desk all day, or relegates himself to some other sphere where his rudimentary knowledge will avail him, the better it will be for the ratepayers. We are quite prepared to admit that he is a painstaking member, and that he has fought hard for this end of the riding in obtaining expenditure for it, and if he had stopped there he would have our hearty support. But when he goes beyond that, and by his ill-advised action causes the ratepayers' money to be squandered, we are compelled, reluctantly though it may be, to draw the line and state our opinion. We would also gently remind Mr McGloin that it is not befitting the dignity of a County Councillor to be boasting and threatening all and sundry who hold opinions opposed to him on county matters in public-house tap-rooms. There is a time and place for everything, and total disregard for these conventionalities does not raise any man in the estimation of the public, let alone such an important personage as a County Councillor. We trust our remarks will be taken in the spirit in which they are meant. We know that every public man has an ordeal to go through, but by paying attention to some of these matters, which may in the meantime appear minor ones to him, we have no doubt he will grow into a useful public man, reflecting credit on, and being a benefit to the ratepayers who may obtain his services.