PY.
To
The Honourable
The Colonial Secretary.
288
20913
Chief Resident Engineer's
ORTICE, JUN 07
Kowloon,
Dated 2nd May, 1907.
SLEEPERS.
Sir,
My instructions as regards the sleepers to be employed on the Railway were that they should be Jarrah 9 ft. x 9" x 5". Please see the last paragraph but one of General Letter No. 1 from the Consulting Engineers dated 13th March, 1906.
Acting on this when I wanted sleepers I called for tenders from three firms who were prepared to tender:-
Messrs. Jardine, Matheson and Company.
Messrs. Butterfield and Swire.
Messrs. Dodwell and Company.
Of these three firms Messrs. Jardine, Matheson and Company were the only ones to send in a tender.
The arrangements made by Messrs. Butterfield and Swire for cabling a price broke down and they were unable to quote.
Messrs. Dodwell and Company were unable to get Jarrah at all.
As a consequence, I had to accept the price quoted by Messrs. Jardine, Matheson and Company.
As these sleepers were very expensive, I wrote