New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-01-22

1870 compelling the head Of ''GGa apSrfaen NJ
unless for very strong reasons and allow1g lin yt
nye days opesent those the Mayor 10 concur
The only way is to stop absolutely unb1anced BIDS in The
frst place Formerly up to 1890 in AL sewer contracts
Court of Appeals decided in 1880 mat that wts Illegal
and t9lt we would nave To- make price for each quantity.
question from Mr. Laasag ,O the o5e5S, a6 o c1S to
ont contracts FOR earth and rock WORK .enar,oi @Fp
nstance he sai take the case Of street hat hoe 70 e
eXcay ated at one point ami filed In AT another = d.
vide thar into two contracts one man w0un ma Il. rst
to strip of the earth and another might have TO do
! the filling In. u could be done much more econOm.
| lcaly by The same man."
In reference The Bronx River Aquaduct the Commits.
soncr said that the plans AMI estimate were prepared he
fore hs term OF Office; that the original cstiuate o;
| the cost was two and thrtcqulrter millions
! OF dollars, and the expenditure
original estimate would De exceeded. but would
sutng Mr. Birisi tho iile assistant engineer In aa-
swer 10 question from Senator Dlgyett 80 why In a
| eon explained that the certified chock
Of on was N SaY Q" City Bank Ho, ryre Sp 5y
law, and that constituted a technical rreguarity.
THE 5000 Orders
In reference TO the methods OF the Department OBJ
tanning work and supplies costing under $1,000. Mr
Thompson said that the policy OF the Department had
been to make inquiries 10 who would do the wOrkoF
furnish the supplies best and II continue TO give the
ders to such persons hal satisfaction. Tho
greatest pains taken TO avoid plyng exOr btant
Nj acknowledgements have been widely made that
certain dylduas have very rich these II 900
orders from your Department
Mr. Thompson-I know that IS absolutely false It :,
impossible. Nobody could grow rich out OF such work
from the Department. Tney could make money Of
senator Dagsett-How much approximately. has any
one OF these firms received from this pO)Oorder busi
ness 7
figures showing that II. A. CunninsaI hal received
$2@3OOO in three years. dare say that they are correct
In answer to question to how The coal supplies
were obtained AIr Thompson said that something like
\ year ago he found the Department was pay
ing Treacy & Collins much for coal,
and That since then the firm has not
received any orders All orders for coal now adyer
uNd To Mr. DdZset the witne, sad that tie lrim nj
purchased only small quantities. ~ paving stones, the
work in wlcl they are req Ired being mllny done by
heads o; Dirtmon;s Discretionary power 10 adNerts-
nz for supplies work in amounts unler 5000.
Mr. Thompson said that ne not aware that any OF
from other sources and that there were no persons en-
p"yed by the Department whose services coud ne dls-
pcnscd with without detrlmcnt to the public service
M. Whrdgc-Woud you be surprised II ID Wa' found
that OF your nspcctors devoted Large portion of
their time to other business
Mr.. Inompson-I .holld not retain for five minutes
Of them who did that IL T. possible for aiJ ply To
make mistake but when hnd am III error ehded'Or
lie cxpiacd tnat tie detailed laborcrs reported to
foremen and tmcSrcperS from day o. day. lie denied
,t yr ~ ,ir@. .biff,d aboif tnr , 10 bc ma It rse
ofby political cIndilsg, Ha insisted thlt their loca-
ton, a-o regulated ~ far ~ possible by regard Tor
their own int rests.
WATER METERS.
The question Of water meters next taken up Mr..
Thompson said that there about 5000 Ia Usc IN tho
city M, engineers told him that there ought to be
10000.
senator Lan-ne-Ts there no law that Ieaure' water
meters 10 DE- pat iu ctCTy place of a certain r.1~-f
Mr. Thomp.ou-N0 ~r. II i a mere regulation OF tue
Department
Mr. Lansug-As a matter Of fact, are there water
meters IN an the large hotels ! -,
M Tnompsoa-Not 80 lar as I know OF since April.
l-~3.
Tuc Commissioner said Chat the meter rate, had been
10 cents per hundred cubic feet and Ito cents per
hundred gallons. IA Boston the charge wa j. cents pr
hundred cubic feet He thought that tine demand mtfe
by hotel for lower rates was hiani"atN UNFAIR TX
perimens showed that IN private houses where the Oc
cup3uts careful the water the water rates were
lllc under the meter rates lie said th1l meters cod
not hc put into private houses except at the expense Oh
the cty and The same rule applied 10 boarding houses
At tie close OF his examination Mr. Thompson sild
that thought It would require at least six week, 10
furnish all tho information that had been requested OF
I'M