Analogue No.
in Sir 4.
Jorden!
159 o
ALT
Pekin.
13983
324 417 241417
February 4th, 1908.
3
On the 29th ultimo I received a telegram from the Governor-in-Chief's agents at Hong Kong, asking that I should request Your Excellency to authorize the appointment of Consulting Engineers for the Canton Kowloon Railway, the request being supported by the Managing Director of that Railway.
At our subsequent interview (on the 31st ultimo), I informed Your Excellency of the facts which make this request a matter of urgency, namely, that the bridge designs are practically completed and that, following universal practice in Railway construction, it is essential that these be submitted for the approval of eminent Consulting Engineers, whose duty it would also be to inspect the materials for the same; and I pointed out that, unless this were done at once, construction work would inevitably be delayed.
Your Excellency was of opinion that, as regards the technical inspection of materials in such cases, it was advisable to adhere to the system in force on the Railways of North China, without definite appointment of individual Consulting Engineers, but that, as regards general advice and assistance, it was unnecessary to engage the services of any foreign experts, preferring to appoint Mr. Jones, the Engineer-in-Chief of the Peking-Kaifong Railway.
Tien Yuen
I have earnestly requested Your Excellency's reconsideration of this matter, and now beg to recapitulate the grounds on which this request is based.
The development of railway enterprise with foreign capital
The Past
of Communications.
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