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through the unavoidably delay in obtaining plant from this country, the preliminary scarcity of suitable labour which is always felt at the commencement of large engineering works in the Colonies, the serious outbreak and prevalence of malarial fever, as evidenced by the reports made by Dr. J. C. Thomson at the request of His Excellency, and the damage and disorganization occasioned by the late typhoon.
Having carefully perused the latest accounts of progress, we do not see that the rate is now much less than might have been anticipated at the starting of such a work under the difficulties to which we have drawn attention.
We are,
For
Sir John Wolfe Barry & Partners
(Sgd.) J. Wolfe Barry.