THE HARBOUR BOARD'S NEW TUG.

Otago Witness, Issue 3004, 11 October 1911, Page 3

THE HARBOUR BOARD'S NEW TUG.

The Taranaki Herald says:—" A few days ago it was telegraphed from Dunedin that the Harbour Board there had accepted a local tender for the building- of a tug at a price some thousands of pounds in. exeesa of tenders received from builders beyond the Dominion. Pending .receipt of fullei particulars we refrained from comment on what appeared to be \& policy of fals< economy. From the Dunedin papers now' to hand we learn that the accepted tended was that of a Port Crualmres firm, the con tract price being £22,778, which is £42?f in excess of a tender from Hctfgkong ant £3743 in excess of one from Scotland. W< are quite prepared to find that public opinion will oointeide with the views of the members of the board, who congratulated themselves and each other upon having kept the work and the money in the district. Nevertheless we are convinced that it is a (mistaken policy, for reasons which we will state,. We will give the board the benefit of the doubt whether they can get as completely, satisfactory a job completed at a comparatively small and poorly equipped local yard as at a yard where similar and much more important jobs are constantly being turned out. though it is a point to which some consideration ought to be given-. The idea in the mind of the members appears to have been to give the work to local people, to do all they could for; their own. workers. To attain this end they propose to pay £4278 (jess a possible £1(300 for inspection at a foreign yard) more for their tug than they need have done. Now it ia obvious that the board will either have £4278 less to spend on other works, or it must extract from those people who furnish its revenue £4278 more than otherwise would have been necessary, and these latter will have £4278 lees to spend in other directions. Again, it is probable that the Port Chalmers firm entrusted with the con>tract will have to import a large proportion of the raw material as well as a considerable quantity of finished and partly finished parts; so that the actual payments to local workers on the oontr&ct will probably not amount to many thousands of pounds, and from these must be deducted the £4278 which would otherwise have been, available to spend in other directions, possibly employing a much larger proportion of labour. SfciH another point is that if the contract had gone abroad for £18,500 produce would have had to be exported to pay for the tug, •while under the present circumstances only the imported raw material and parts will have to bo paid for by exports and the producers of the Dominion will lose the sale of some thousands of pounds' worEh of produce. The community as a whole will therefore loee the difference between the accepted tender . and that of tihe lowest foreign tender —or £4278 —while a few in-> dividual may gain something considerably les3 than that. It is a policy which no in> dividual member of the board would adopt in his. private affairs, or, if he did, it would be for personal or sentimental reasons. No business man would nay Jones £5 for an fcrticJe which he could get from Smith for £4, except . he woe prepared to sacrifica. business prinoiples for the _ sake of doing Jones a good turn. Yet this is practically what the Otago Harbour Board is doinig under the false notion that it is keeping ivrork and rnonierp in the Domonion."