not eno
159
i mor la I
> SIX Pduai
3 NO
other words I consider the Director of Public Works (under
orders of course) was guilty of a breach of etiquette in
the method adopted.
I have never been asked to make a statement with
regard to these bridges, nor to say whether in my opinion
the crack is serious or no. His Excellency seems to have
jumped to the conclusion that the matter is serious and his
anxiety has in no way heen lessened by the extraordinary
advice of the Honourable Director of Public Works to dis-
mantle bridge No. 4 to the bottom of the founds. I do not
think that Mr Williams will concur in that proposal.
Urgency cannot in my opinion be pleaded as an
excuse for this procedure, I consider there was plenty of
time to have informed you on the subject! It will take
some time before any thing definite can he done, as the
weighting of Bridge 4 for instance has to be done slowly
and no
advice of any value can be given till the result
of putting the full weight on the bridge is known.
The Executive Engineer mentioned in paragraph 2
of the Honourable Colonial Secretary's letter (enclosure A)
instead of coming to me or my assistant and asking for
coolies to work the boring tools, went direct to the sub
contractor of Messrs Leigh and Orange thereby ignoring
both the Engineers and the head contractors. This has had
a very bad effect on my authority on the works and that of
my Assistant Engineer, A China man is very quick to notice
any thing of this sort, and it is rumoured pretty freely on the works in Kowloon that I and my assistant are to he
dismissed for incompetence on account of Bridge 4.
Such reports (unfounded though they may be)
spread about very quickly and make it very difficult to get
orders