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had to be floated round by sea, and a special railway 14 miles long constructed to bring them to the site. I also noted during my inspection that the Chief Resident Engineer had succeeded in producing an excellent class of brick for the Tunnel facing and Bridge masonry. These are burnt in the Bull's Kilns with coal, and though more costly, viz. $22 per 1,000 as against $11.50 per 1,000 for locally burnt bricks and $10 per 1,000 for bricks made at Canton, they are infinitely superior to the local brick which is insufficiently burnt, and is often so soft that it would be useless in the Tunnel and would have compelled the use of stone at much greater cost and delay. I hope that the instruction given to local Chinese in brick burning may result in a permanent improvement in the class of bricks used in this Colony.
13. While feeling it my duty to report to Your Lordship the situation as regards this Railway as it appears to me at present (and which no doubt Your Lordship will consider it advisable to communicate to the Consulting Engineers) I feel that my impressions on so short a residence in the Colony cannot as yet be formulated into mature conclusions. I realize that it would be a most serious step to change the Chief Resident Engineer at