el:5
April
11878
PARAGRAPHS 20-24.
2.355
9502
For 16 APR 19
The correctness of the allegations of fact con-
tained in paragraphs 21 and 23 of this Petition as to the
causes which occasioned the damage to the Petitioners' pier
is disputed by this Government upon the strength of the evi-
dence of Mr. Bowdler, Special Engineer engaged on the Praya Re-
clamation Works and of Messrs. Boulton and Mudie, Executive En-
gineers, who were engaged in daily supervision of the works and
were in better position to judge the point than anybody else
could be.It is conceived, however, that such allegations are
really irrelevant to the present question.
PARAGRAPH 31.
The amount of compensation claimed by Mr.Howard
in his letter of 25th. April, 1898, of which a copy is enclosed,
was $293,403.40 with interest and costs of his mandamus suit,
subject to certain deductions.
In his letter to the Acting Attorney General
of the 7th.November, 1898, he reduced his claim to $200,000 only.
Both these sums are based on the assumption that the Govern-
ment was bound to resume his Lot, instead of compensating him
and his co-petitioner upon the principle put forward by them
in paragraph 35 of their present petition to you.
PARAGRAPH 33.
The expert evidence in the possession of the
Government not only of its own Engineers but also of Mr.Danby,
an Architect and Engineer practising in this Colony, who has
been