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of
1905, that the Railway should be constructed on this
the
system, and that views of this Government were not asked
A
for on this question. On February 23rd., 1907, my pre-
-decessor addressed to Lord Elgin a Despatch in which he
urged in very strong terms that the supervision of the
construction should be placed under the Director of Public
Works.
The Memorandum in paragraph 11,
paragraph 15, and paragraph 19 (e) clearly lays down that
the Consulting Engineers appointed under this system are
responsible for the success of the work, and that the
entire responsibility rests with them "for the conception
and execution of the design". The Resident Engineer is
selected by them on their sole responsibility, and refers
all technical matters to them. Interference by the local
Government is strongly deprecated, and "should be limited
to cases of urgent necessity". It is stated that the
Consulting Engineers accept the entire responsibility
which would fall upon a Contractor if the Government let
the work to contract, and it is in return for the assump-
iin ho
fees of the Consulting Engineers in lieu of the profits of
the Contractor (paragraph 6). In these circumstances I
but the conti
assume
-tion of this responsibility that the Government pays the