Estimated at £5948.
2. As regards the question of supply of cement for this work, which our attention is specially called in your letter under reference, I have to point out that the necessity for purchasing Cement locally arose from the early commencement of the working season and would have been avoided if the Surveyor General had allowed, in forwarding his indent, for so probable a contingency. There has undoubtedly been, in addition, delay in the arrival of the cement indented for, due, as explained in our letter of the 29th October last, to the very unsatisfactory manner in which the contract has been executed by the firm for whose cement the Surveyor General has expressed a preference. We have fortunately been able to make good the deficiency to a considerable extent, by diverting cement from other contracts, and we hope that the progress of the works has not been materially retarded. It is however necessary that the Surveyor General should bear in mind when preparing his indents that, even with the best makers, failures are possible and that the cement intended for a particular instalment may not have been delivered.