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The Director of Public Works explained that the conditions in Hongkong were not identical and no serious difficulty had been experienced in this direction. Disputes between contractors and sub-contractors were settled among themselves. I propose that in future the Chief Resident Engineer shall refer every contract for final completion to the District Magistrate who will thus be in full possession of what is required, that the District Magistrate should compel the contractor to notify to him all sub-contracts made and if necessary see that they are put in writing, and that the railway should inform him if work is not up to contract and leave him to pay the amount earned in such proportion as he thinks just. The principle is that the District Magistrate whose duty it is to see justice done in his district shall be the intermediary. The precise extent to which he deems it necessary to intervene would be left to him, and would depend on the character of the Contractor. He has the machinery to explain to the people and to arrange an equitable adjustment. Refer to Mr. Mallifax for his views?
3.
The Chief Resident Engineer asked what quarters he should provide for Railway Management Staff in the vicinity of or at the Station at Kowloon. It was agreed that a Second Storey should be erected to the Station Buildings, viz.:- Ground Floor:- waiting rooms; Ticket Offices &c. 1st. Floor;- Offices. 2nd. Floor: Dwelling Rooms. It was stated that the Railway Station need not be covered by glass, hence the dwelling rooms can extend over the platforms and permanent way. I concurred that Mr. Little of the Public Works Department should submit a design.
4.
Finally the Chief Resident Engineer raised the question of letting the work on the Tunnel as put forward in his letter of September 25th., which I had not as yet seen, was laid before us. Whatever may be the merits or demerits of the proposal, I look upon the fact that it has been formally laid
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