457
greater weight the drain could bear.
to state if that is other than the top of a
a
large boulder
what is
laying
says
"I tours
in the drain but the
house was not resting
there is a
two officers of
the Rahman
them.
difference between the Survey Department,
but allowance must be made for the
time that has elapsed
length of time
the accident.
elapses since
I think the report made by Colonel
the Royal Engineers on the 6th
independent opinion of
Start
of
January
1880 is an
what he saw, and the conclusions he came to
an
the subject of the damage done to Messrs Boughton's house are entitled to great consideration Colonel Stuart states in para 5c. of 6th January 1880:- "What happened I conceive to be this: The old
of
letter
"drain became partly brought into it
construction
by
by
choked
by
the new drain
sand
the Surveyor General's department;
"the old drain became gorged at the
"place of the land deposit under the foundations
the house; the water then
of
"accumulated" in the drain and by its
"pressure destroyed the drain, not only under the foundations of Belmont but at a
the surface of
"weak point
near
the
"ground higher up. This explanation accounts for each and all of the
circumstances that occurred whereas
"that
of
the
Surveyor General's
Department, does not.
It is
A
difficult matter for me to decide between experts such as Colonel Stuart, R.E, Surveyor General Price, and Mr Bowker Assistant Surveyor General, are, but the question
I being referred to me
I give it to the best of my ability; my opinion is that the "old drain gave way
North West corner
under
the
of the house in
consequence of the drain being required to