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appointed a Permanent Committee, charged with the work of
carrying on the dusting and slopping of two out of the eight Wards
of the Parish, and the proposal of the Committee to accept the same
responsibility in respect to two additional Wards, the Contractors
were naturally led to believe that tenders were being invited from
them by the Vestry in February last for the remaining Wards,
equal to about two-thirds of the Parish, positively for the last
time, and that if they did not seize this opportunity, no other
would be given them, of endeavouring to compensate themselves
in prospect of the loss they were fully expecting to sustain in being
deprived of what they not improbably regarded as their vested
interests in undertaking and neglecting the parish work, and hence
came the increase in their demands. With the particulars as to the
slopping tenders (which, however were also largely raised on this
occasion) I am unacquainted, as they do not concern my department,
but I have thought it might be well for us just at this juncture
to look back over the various amounts which have been paid by the
Vestry for the dusting of the several wards of the parish from 1868
to March, 1876, and I have therefore tabulated the figures, and they
will be found set forth in Table No. XIII. at the end of this Report,
and I have also added to it the amounts of the lowest tenders
received in February last for the dusting of wards 1, 2, 3, and 4,
which together amounted to the sum of £4,914 as against the
£3,238 paid in the previous year, the increase being £1,676, or 51.7
per cent. If this demand had been a little less exorbitant the
Vestry might perhaps have accepted the inevitable in the hope of an
early deliverance, but as it was it soon became manifestly clear that
the contractors had not only over-estimated the value of the services
which they were offering, but had also miscalculated as to the
absolute necessity that they supposed to exist for their services
being accepted at all. Upon the recommendation of the Sanitary
Committee the tenders were refused, and after referring the matter
to the consideration of a joint committee, the Vestry finally resolved
to undertake the whole of the work themselves. This decision was
in my opinion both wise and necessary, and has, I believe, been
fully justified by the manner in which the Dusting and Slopping
Committee are devoting themselves to the duty with which they
they have been entrusted. They are, I am glad to know, thoroughly
in earnest and determined that this important business shall be