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lead to this bridge and to the other one which is badly
affected were proceeding daily.
They are situated upon
the same formation (consisting of an upper crust with an
unstable sub-stratum) as the bridges, and one such embank-
ment has since subsided suddenly about 6 feet and is still
The Chief Resident Engineer has expressed to
sinking.
me the view that it was the thrust of these embankments
upon the abutment walls which had produced the cracks.
appeared to me therefore that it was an urgent matter to
It
decide at once whether the opinion held by the Director of
Public Works was based on reliable data and whether his
conclusions were justified, and if so, that work should be
suspended on the bridges.
In view of the opinion expres-
sed by the Chief Resident Engineer (that the report of the
Director of Public Works was unwarranted) it was manifestly
impossible for me to stop work, without an outside opinion
of such weight as would enable me to direct cessation of
the work without discrediting the Chief Resident Engineer
by subordinating his professional opinion to that of the
Director of Public Works. To refer the matter to the
Consulting Engineers and meanwhile to have allowed the work
on the bridges to proceed appeared to me to be a course of
action which would have entailed unnecessary expense to
this Colony, if (as there appeared good reason to believe)
the