....
01
235
to be defective, before discussing the technical side of the
matter we would first respectfully submit that His
Excellency in paragraph 5 of his report is under a grave
misapprehension as to the interpretation of paragraph 6
of your Memorandum of February 1906. His Excellency writes:-
"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 assumption of this respons-
"ibility that the Government pays the fees of the
*Consulting Engineers in lieu of the profits of the
*Contractor (paragraph 6)".
H
The memorandum quoted, however, states as follows:-
partmental System. 6. By the departmental system is meant in effect
"that the Government becomes its own Contractor, taking
"upon itself the risks inseparable from the undertaking
"but avoiding the payment of the profit which a Con-
"tractor would demand to cover these risks. In practice
"the success of the system depends on the Government
"being able to entrust the control of the work to an
"officer of its own, possessing the qualifications and
"experience of the Chief Agent of a large Contractor
"and to vest in that officer the same large measure of
2.