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as I have myself formed of him. On the other hand he is
an able Office-man. His Books, Accounts and Correspondence
are admirably kept, and I believe him to be economical in
his rates for work etc. I am not therefore prepared to
recommend any change to you, and I have detailed these
matters merely in order that Your Lordship and the
Consulting Engineers may be in full possession of the
facts, and may not be under the impression that the con-
-clusions I have arrived at regarding this Officer are
either hasty and ill-founded or based on prior reports.
I am glad to be able to inform you that work appears to be
going on very satisfactorily at present, and no friction
that I am aware of now exists.
With regard to the remaining
paragraphs of Messrs. Wolfe and Barry's letter, and to
paragraph 2 of Your Lordship's Despatch, I may observe
that Mr. Eres has every opportunity of ready access to me
whenever he desires to see me, and that I have spoken fully
and frankly to him on these matters.
Lord Ffrench representing
Paulings and Company approached me some time ago with a
view to tendering for a contract for the British Section
of the Kowloon-Canton Railway. He urged that if he could
obtain
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