A RAILWAY SCANDAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 136, 19 October 1868, Page 3

A RAILWAY SCANDAL.

> •& The Dunedin Evening Star of Oct. 8 contains the following : — Vtry great excitement has been caused in bu-iness circles in Invercargili in conse 4uel.ce of the discovery that the sealeo I tenders for the Oreti railway had been tarn- 1

pered with. As far as we can learn the facts are these :— The tenders were lodged with the clerk to the Superintendent of Southland' (Mr W. H. Aylmer), and were to have been opened on the Ist inst. The matter came before the Southland Provincial Council, and ir was resolved to postpone the opening of the tenders for a few days. In the meantime, several parties, said to have a deep interest in the matter, aided by the clerk, opened the tenders which had been lodged, and when they were laid before the Southland Government, previous, to heing opened in the regular course, there waa strong evidence of their having been tampered with The state of things was laid before the Provincial Council, which was assembled 'in session at the time — und the Government was instructed to make a searching inquiry into the whole affiir. The result was that the Superintendent's clerk, and a Mr Sayers, a contractor, were yesterday arrested on a charge of conspiring to defraud the Southland Government. They were brought up before the Resident Magistrate at Invercargiil this morning, and were remanded for eight days. A warrant had been issued by the Invercargili Bench for the apprehension of Mr Mackenzie, the well-known contractor of this city; and he was arrtsted at Tokoraairiro to-day.