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-The CHAIRMAN.-Have you heard anything said about the corruption in the department-the talk going about the Colony?
A. Yes, I have heard talk.
Q.-Have you heard it generally said, or said by individuals, that they believed there was squeezing and so on?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you mention the names of any of those parties?
A. No, I think anybody I have heard it from would have it in hearsay them- selves. I don't wish to mention any names at all.
Q-You see if we could get to them we might be a step nearer. way of tracing it back.
A. Yes, but I would rather not give the names.
It is the only
Q.-From what you have heard, from hearsay only, could you suggest any direc- tion in which our inquiries could be pushed?
A.-I think if you could get them to speak the truth the Contractors would be the men, but I am afraid you could not get anything out of them. I know I have asked the Contractors with reference to Government work before, and they have told me a thing and laughed about it, and then if I mention it to them now, which I have done to one or two, and asked them if they would come up and give evidence, they say, "Oh, my no savvey."
Q.--Do you think there is any class of what you might call discontented, discarded Contractors in the Colony, that is to say, Contractors who have been told in fact there is no more Government work for them?
A.-No, I think not.
Q.--Because a class like that might be likely to talk.
A. Yes, they would be the most likely ones, but I don't know of
any one.
Q.-With reference to the price of Government work, we are told that one reason why it is more expensive is this, that with a private firm a Contractor has a chance sometimes of closing immediately. He says, "My tender is so much." A private firm will say, "Well, if you will take $2,000 less we will close with you now."
A. Yes, that is almost systematically done.
Q.-That cannot be done in Government work?
A.-I am afraid not. Of six tenders as they come in originally, I think it is very seldom the lowest figure is accepted. I think we can always knock something off that, and not uncommonly the tenderer who was not the lowest originally will come down sufficiently to be made the lowest. I have had cases in which, from the date of the
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