530
"tested and comes to 103 lbs instead of 112 lbs"
I refer you to the weights per bushel as given in my Reports.
It is a well-known axiom that Portland cement, upon exposure to the air, increases in volume, and loses in weight with age up to certain limits, and further that it can be made to weigh within a range of, say 20 lbs, whatever the operator likes.
If, therefore, the Resident Engineer had made the 1½ lbs cement of the "Glenogle" or the "Changsha" weigh say 110 or 111 lbs, it would have been what I should have expected - and I should have assumed that he had weighed it in accordance with the method used by your Departments, but when he reports that it only weighs 103 lbs, I have no hesitation in saying that his method of weighing has been different to that adopted here, and that, as a check upon your Inspector's weighings, his results are useless.
It is stated "About February 16 of this year Robins & Co's (some of) cement showed white and flour-like on the surface, after being mixed as Concrete". The tests were low - 363 lbs and got "lower - 320 lbs".
He appears to assume that the cement alone is at fault, so with the results of his mud tests before him, he, in a panic, ...