The evening world., 1893-12-08
myers WILL NOT PAY.
Comptroller Rejects Contractor
Kelly's Bill for S32,8ll,8O.
Says the Repaving Of Third Avenue
Is Worse Than Bad.
Department of Public Works Scored
for Certifying the Bill.

Myers had refused payment of So, 81 50
to William Kelly, who has the contract
for paving Third avenue from Ninety
sixth to One Hundred and Twenty fifth
street, on the ground that the work for
which the money was asked was worse
than bad.
AS the work was accepted and payment
for 1t approved and certified by the De-
partment of Public Works, an explana-
tion from that Department is awaited
with much interest.
The Comptroller's expert who exam
ined the pavement does not charge col
fusion and fraud. but his language init
mates that there must be something
| wrong somewhere when officials APPROX.
or such patchwork as Contractor Kel-
| ly,s Third avenue pavement.
This Is the report in full:
| Hon. Theodore W. Myers Comptroller:
Dear SIR The last block has been paved under
the contract for paving Third avenue from Ninety
| sixth to One Hundred and Twcnty-ninth street
ana have recently made an examination Of the
surface OF this pavement from end to the other
| consider II a poor piece Of work. In many
places the pavement IN rough and uneven SO much
SO That ! have seldom seen u pavement laid in
sand alone with sand joints. which has not pre-
| scented better surface. The utter folly Of at
tempting to make water prnOf pavement under
the requirements Of the specifications Is every
where apparent, for the Joints for long continuous
stretches look though they had never been filled
| with tar. gravel or other material. as they are
entirely open, in some almost to the entire
depth of the stone. and last week found a man
with cart employed In srrinkling dirt, Sc, along
the joints so az to hide their condition
In some cases the Joints have had no tar poured
into them In others, owing To the defective char
acter OF the material used and the blocks being
cold. all the stun has simply disintegrated and
worked out like so much dirt. leaving the joints
entirely open
The paving of the intersection Of one Hundred
and Twenty-ntth street has been done IN dis
graceful manner, and should never he accepted
until much of the stone between the tracks at
| least has been relaid. 1t looks at this point as
| The last block laid between one Hundred and
Twenty eighth and One Hundred and Twenty ninth
streets passed over after the pavement had beer
laid and before paving cement had been, poundd.
ed. and found the grave, m the Joints too I'm,
to uso under the old specifications and practi
| cally none nj I, acceptable under thesr.
| Tho bridge stones required by the specifications
| are Of quality hrsi-class In every particular
and to be joIntcd at the ends varying only one.
quarter Of an inch from top to bottom. The
bridge stone used on this work. as have already
/ reported, were many Of them much thinner thar
tn" specifications require and they were never
properly jointed The bridging fails usually be-
| fore any other portion Of the pavement. and the
poor iointins makes its destruction easily accom-
| pshed
| After protesting for n while against the nsc Of
| this stone | marked some as saw them put In,
| and these | required the contractor To replace be.
| fore passing his first payment. ! believe that at
l
part Of the work were not such ms the spccih-
| cations require.
| also have frequently protested against the us'
| of the material taken from beneath the old pave
| ment, and used as sand. II has been the custom
| Of the water purveyor to allow the use Of Ger
| tain percentage Of this material on much of th'
work. Some OF 1t undoubtedly In sand. hut non'
OF 1t Is clean and the most Of II Is absolutely und
| for use. IL would never be accepted as n build
ing material. and to license the contractors to us
it is a mistake Of Judgment, and a decided dctrt
| ment TO the pavement
1 nnlnrG aud hat Nan ktt. do
| Gnire considerable repaving before this work II
| accepted by them. and the appearance Of the sur
as laid falls far below the standard as set by tbs
| specifications, and the repairs made Onl,
be of a superficial character. not OF a nature t,
| remedy many of the defects noted above. Respect
| fully submitted, MERRITT II. SMITH.
This Is not an UNUSUAL occurrence
said Comptroller Myers to an "Evenint
World reporter this afternoon. quite
matters of this kind to the Publ,
Works Department, and as a rule, tn,
officials there then do what they can Il
time ago this same gentleman. Mr.. Kel
ly, was compelled to repave all o.
Twenty-third street. because the worl
first performed was faulty. In this case
however the city loses nothing.
This matter of supervision by thi
Department Is something new. 1t wa
started here recently and has accom-
plished much good Yes; ] believe tn
ment are supposed to inspect the worl
while II is progressing. ! have no doub
they viii take prompt action in thi
| matter"
Deputy Public Works COMMISSIONS
Holahan said that his engineers wer
busy making out a reply to the Comp
troller and that 1t would be forwarde,
to the latter this afternoon. In that re
port It would be stated that the loos
methods complained of had been dis
covered by the Public Works Depart
ment some time ago, and ordered rem
edied. 1t was found that Mr.. Kelly wa
not putting the tar down hot enough
Further that II Comptroller Myers's en-
gineers would point out specific defect
Mr.. Kelly would be l.a1e to relay tn
pavement in such places.
The estimated cost OF work for whicl
Kelly has the contract is $l42. 2+sS0. II
with which no fault was found.
His last demand was the final install
ment on 10 per cent OF the contrac
price. The city was to retain 30 per cent
for a certain period as a guarantee tina
the contract was performed according
to agreement w
The 30 per cent. amounts to Al 233 20
but had the last instalment been pal
without protest or investigation. Kell
might claim that the work, was ac
cepted by the city and demand paymen
Kelly's claim is In the hands OF Publ
Works Commissioner DAILY. The Com
missioner Is expected to see to 1t tina
Kelly performs his work properly. I'm
Tess Kelly does he will get no money.
Kelly is a member OF Tammany Hal
He has had many big contracts from tn
city