THE BEAUMONT BRIDGE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1028, 29 March 1884, Page 3

THE BEAUMONT BRIDGE.

(To the Editor.) Sib, — Abl anticipated, the contractor for tho Beaumont bridge applied for an extension of time to complete his contract. I wbs prepared for this, but I hardly expected that Mr Bennet would propose that the application •hould be granted. lam of opinion that, in this case, he acted under the influence of kindly motives rather than from a strict sense of duty. Of all the members of the Council, Mr Fraser was the only one who had the m online js to honestly express his convic* tion on the subject, and to propose that the contract O" should pay the cost of inspection. Mr M'Nab, in supporting the application, stated that, in the construction of eucb work.', great difficulties were to be met with. Does not Mr M'Nab know that the facilities or difficulties are always taken into account when a contractor is preparing his tender ? I wonder if Mr M'Nab would expect to get a tunnel driven in hard, difficult ground for the same price that it might be done for in good ground j or, would he be wilb'ng to pay as high a price for doing the same amount of work in good ground as in bad ? If so, it seems to me that he is like a round peg in a square hole. The only difficulty the contractor had to contend with was bis own lack of energy. It never seems to have entered his head that there were two sides to the river, and that work might be carried on simultaneously from both sides. If the river bottom was unsound ka composed of silt, sand, or loose gravel, *h ,n it might be ne*es' sary to carry on the work by coffer-dam ing, though I hardly think the contractor is acquainted with this mode of doing things. It appears from the report of the last meeting of the County Council that Mr Buchanan is particularly anxious to dispense with the services of the Inspector of works. His reason for this is so very transparent that I can hardly think the Council is likely to be influenced by any argument that he can ad« vance. Were it not for the close attention which the Inspector paid to the manner in which the wo*k was being carried on, I hove no doubt that before this time the whole of the piers would have been up. Here is what an eminent English engineer sayi about the composition of concrete :— " A good concrete for sea or river works is made by a mixture of mortar made of three parts of fine sand to one of hydraulic lime umlacked, with equal quantities of gravel or broken stone, but the latter may be increased in proportion to 1| of the mortar. No water should be mixed with the mortar and gravel during the mixing and clay and other earths should be carefully excluded." When the Works Committee came to tho bridge the Inspector demonstrated o them that there was too much clay diffused through the gravel, showing plainly either the carelessness of the contractor or else a wilful disregard of his terms of contract. Now, seeing that the contractor endeavored to do the work in such a manner, although tho Inspector was always on the ground, it may be easily imagined how he would carry on if left to himself, with, perhaps, an occasional visit from the Engineer. It is only reasonable to suppose that he would make tho most of his opportunities, and that the " concrete " would consist of whatever material could most readily be procured— viz., clay, §and, and j gravel, with just enough cement to hold the stuff together until he got paid for it. Perhaps it may be said: "The Engineer would see to that." What oan the Engineer do if the Council does not support him ? If they supported tho Engineer, and if they were true to the trust . reposed in then by the ratepayers, as soon at they found that, the work was not being properly done, instead of screening the contractor, they would at once hare taken the work out of his hands and have forfeited his deposit, and whatever per centage may have been retained from him ; but so far frum asserting their position, it seems as if they were little better than so many puppets, reidy to dance whenever the contractor pulls the strings. If the Council supported the Engineer, as they ougbt to have done, there would be no necessiiy for that gentleman to expres3 himself in such emphatic terms, as he did do, at the last meeting of the Council, when he stated openly and plainly (what is perfectly well known)— viz,, that one of the members of the Council is 'so related to the contractor that the public might reasonably infer that the contractor is such rather in name than reality.— l am, Ac, A Tbviot Ratepaybb.

[We have struck out portions of this letter which it would nob be fair to publish under a norn deplum.— ld. " T.T."]

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