THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

An endeavor has been made to show that the Government were to blame in not at the time ratifying the contract. But what are the real facts? The contract arrived here in March, but the specification and plans in connection with the specification were not received by me until the 13th July, and within a few days afterwards, I was informed by Mr. George verbally and on the 9th of August in writing, that he, on behalf of the contractors refused to proceed with the work. The papers placed before you last session will convince you that prior to the departure of the first mail after I had received the specification and plans, and before an opportunity occurred for forwarding a ratification, the agent of the contractors had despatched a letter proposing to proceed with the work.

But, even if the contractors had not given notice that they would not go on with the work there were clauses in the specification which would at once have shown the Government the necessity of guarding against assenting to a description so opposed to the known nature of the site, which would have rendered it impossible for them, under any circumstances, to ratify the contract.

There will be laid before you, as usual, reports from various officers of the Government, giving in detail the operations of their several departments. These will, no doubt, be read by you with as much satisfaction as they have been by myself. You will learn from those of the Engineer’s department that about twenty-five miles of track have been opened out by falling the bush a chain wide, connecting this Province, through the seventy-mile bush, with that of Hawke’s Bay, and along which stock have already been driven from thence to Wanganui; that in addition to fourteen miles of new road formed and metalled in various districts at the sole expense of the Government, there have been upwards of twenty-six miles formed and partly metalled by the District Boards. The Education report does not, at first sight, appear so satisfactory as could be wished; this is really owing to the increased care which has been bestowed on the accuracy of the statistics. During the past year no less than nineteen new school districts have been proclaimed, a result from which much may be hoped, and which alone speaks highly for the zealous manner the duties devolving upon the Inspector have been performed.

To show the steady progress the Province is making, I may ask you to compare the returns of the tonnage entered inwards at this port and of the Customs receipts for the year 1864 with those of 1866. The tonnage for 1864 was 93,489 tons, for 1866, 152,391 tons—the Customs receipts for 1864 was £47,562, for last year £92,118.

The terms upon which the loan of £50,000 (to pay off the loan of similar amount, which fell due on the 1st January) has recently been placed in the market by the Union Bank of Australia, cannot but be deemed highly satisfactory and speak well for the credit of the Province. The gross proceeds amounted to £53,100, being at the rate of 6¼ percent premium. The land purchase loan of £50,000 was disposed of in Sydney in January, at an average premium of about 1 per cent.

While the large sums which will be shortly required for the Wharf, Reclaimed Land, and Wanganui Bridge, will necessitate the postponement for this year of several works which are urgently required, and amongst others, the erection of Government buildings, I am happy to state that the revenue will be amply sufficient to enable you to continue the same amount of aid that you have, for some years past, given to the various local boards of the Province.

Taking the ordinary expenses of Government at £24,000, and the permanent appropriation for interest and sinking fund at £12,400; for roads, £29,200. Under the head of ordinary undertakings, the principal appropriation being for Education, Subsidy for Cobb’s coaches, and expenses of Wharf and Warehouse, £8,000, and under the head of sundry works—for rifle ranges...

that I remembered about the site, but could not guarantee anything.” Mr. Carter also states that his information was given from memory and that any contractor was at liberty to reject or to take it. This statement is confirmed by Mr. Morrison. If the contractors and their engineer, Mr. Abernethy, who is stated to be the most eminent authority in England, as far as hydraulic works are concerned, chose to consult Mr. Carter, after this emphatic warning, surely it will not be contended that the Government are responsible for any advice which Mr. Carter might give or they accept.

The papers will also show that the contractors were distinctly told by Mr. Morrison during the discussions on the foundations of the Petone Slip, that he was not empowered to deviate in any way from the written statement received from the Government.

In the contract it is stated “that the Provincial Government engage that the written data, details, and measurements shown in the plan hereunto annexed, and numbered 1., are in all respects correctly stated, and this agreement on the part of the contractors shall be and be deemed to be subject to such data, details, and measurements being found correct.” And Mr. Morrison, in his letter of the 24th February, 1865, says the contract is taken subject to the measurements in Mr. Stewart’s tracing, and also to the written data forwarded from Wellington being correct.

The information here alluded to consisted of a plan and section of the site of slip, and of answers given by Mr. Stewart to three queries which Messrs. Rogerson, then in treaty for the erection of the slip, sent out in 1863 to the Government. No other information whatever was ever given by the Government, nor authorised by it to be given, and Messrs. Kennard were made aware of this. The complete accuracy of the information given by Mr. Stewart is not denied, and the contract is taken by Messrs. Kennard subject to those data being correct—Messrs. Kennard having, as I have already stated, been informed by Mr. Morrison that he had no power to alter the data sent from Wellington.

The Council will be surprised to learn that the particulars annexed to the contract, and which are stated to be the “Particulars relating to Slip which were received by the Colony in June last, 1864,” are not the particulars sent by the Government from the Colony—are not the data furnished by Mr. Stewart, upon which alone the contract was declared to be taken by the contractors, but that they were materially different—that the operation both of abstraction and addition has been practised upon Mr. Stewart’s information—and yet Messrs. Kennard charge the Government with repudiation because they decline to certify to a statement which they know to be untrue—because they decline to ratify a contract declared to be entered into upon data furnished by the Government, but which is found to be based upon wholly different data.

That the contractors knew perfectly well that the bottom of the site was not rock, is proved quite as much by the anxiety they evinced, just before the contract was signed, to persuade Mr. Morrison to allow the words that the foundations of the Slip were clean rock, not overlaid by any sand or silt, to be inserted, as by Mr. Morrison insisting upon their being struck out, on the ground that he had no authority to alter the data received from Wellington. But any doubt upon this point has been removed by the admission made by Mr. Kennard shortly after his arrival, and in the presence of every member of the Executive—that he knew when he signed the contract that the bottom was not rock, and yet Messrs. Kennard, in their letter of the 21st August, 1866, declare “that it was only on the distinct guarantee that the Slip was to be erected on rock” that the negotiations were entered into.