519
that there is not the remotest prospect that the Scheme of Wharves at the Western side of the Southern end of
the Kowloon Peninsula will ever be proceeded with. The
Scheme was prepared in deference to proposals put for-
ward y certain Master Mariners through the Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Duncan did not himself take it seriously
12. I have suggested in telegram of the 28th
April that it is not necessary to refer Mr.Duncan's
Scheme as a whole to the Consulting Engineers, firat because it includes a large quantity of more or less
routine reclamation of shallow waters of a type which
is being continually carried on in various parts of the harbour, and also because it covers projects such as thatreferred to in paragraph 11 above, which it is not proposed to carry out. The reclamation at Kennedy Town, referred to in paragraph 10, ia similar to many other reclamations, such as that at Praya East, and the Port
Engineer's Department is fully competent to deal with
any questions that may arise. The provision of wharf accommodation at Hung Hom falls within a different
category, and I propose that the question of undertaking
any major work of this type should be referred to the
Consulting Engineers in the first instance.
13. As regards the question of the fee due to the
Consulting Engineers, I concur in the proposal made in
their letter of the 4th September, which was forwarded
with your despatch No.296 of the 23rd September, 1924,
that the sum of £2,860 should be merged in any further
work which they may undertake in connection with the
harbour scheme. I may mention that a question has arisen
with regard to the type of foundation for the sea-wall
at