200
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
THIIFIC.O.885
7
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF. THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO |
48
These terms do not appear satisfactory to the Committee, who had expected a substantial abatement, but we are to state that if you (1) will reduce your original tender by a sum of £100,000 (including the cost of the sounding and survey operations) and (2) will also agree to complete the laying of the cable in two years from the signing of the contract, the Committee will be prepared to recommend your offer favourably to the various Governments interested.
We shall be glad if you will let us have your reply as soon as possible in order that we may report the same to the Committee.
W. Shuter, Esq.,
Managing Director,
DEAR SIRS,
We are, &c.,
CLARK, FORDE, & TAYLOR.
The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, Limited,
38, Old Broad Street, E.C.
Enclosure 2 in No. 30.
Pacific Cable.
Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, Limited,
38, Old Broad Street, London, E.C., October 8, 1900.
We are in receipt of your letter of the 5th instant, stating that the terms con- tained in our letters of the 3rd and 19th ultimo do not appear satisfactory to the Pacific Cable Committee, and that you are to inform us that if we will reduce our original tender by a sum of £100,000 (including the cost of the sounding and surveying opera- tions) and will also agree to complete the laying of the cable in two years from the signing of the contract, the Committee will be prepared to recommend our offer favourably to the Governments interested.
In reply I beg to say that, as pointed out in our letter of the 3rd ultimo, the figures of our original tender had been so carefully considered in the first instance that there was very little margin for reduction. I regret, therefore, that it is impossible for us to meet the wishes of the Committee by making any modification of the offer contained in that letter, supplemented by our further letter of the 19th ultimo.
I am, &c.,
Messrs. Clark, Forde, and Taylor,
4, Great Winchester Street, E.Ç.
No. 31.
W. SHUTER,
Managing Director.
MESSRS. CLARK, FORDE, & TAYLOR to the PACIFIC CABLE COMMITTEE. [Answered by No. 34.]
SIR,
4
October 9, 1900.
4, Great Winchester Street, London, E.C.,
PACIFIC CABLE.
We have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th instant,* on the subject of the remuneration for our services in connection with the Pacifie Cable.
We agree to accept the offer of the Committee that such remuneration for the services already rendered and for those mentioned in our letter to the Chairman, dated 2nd August, 1900,† shall be fixed at £20,000 on the understanding that it is not the intention of the Committee that we should be called upon to make any disburse- ments for the services of other professional men in such matters (for instance) as the design and supervision of the construction of a maintenance ship.t
We suggest also that, in order to meet expenses as incurred by us, our fee should be paid in more than two instalments. This has always been the practice when we
† No. 22.
• No. 29.
See Mr. H. A. Taylor's Report dated 6th April, 1900 (Maintenance Ship),
page 9 of Miscellaneous No. 128.
#
have acted for Cable Companies, and we submit for the consideration of the Committee the undermentioned mode of payment:-
£2,000, at the date of the signing of the Contract
£3,000, six months after the signing of the Contract £4,000, twelve months after the signing of the Contract
£5,000, eighteen months after the signing of the Contract
And the balance of £6,000, " on the whole line being certified as com-
pleted and ready for service."
We should, however, not consider the final instalment due to us until our report on the whole work had been made and submitted.
pay-
Whatever the decision of the Committee may be with regard to the mode of ment which we have proposed, we beg leave to thank the Committee for our appoint- ment as Consulting Engineers, and at the same time to assure them our best services will always be at their disposal.
C. T. Davis, Esq.,
SIR,
Secretary,
Pacific Cable Committee.
No. 32.
We are, &c.,
CLARK, FORDE, & TAYLOR.
PACIFIC CABLE COMMITTEE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Confidential.)
October 12, 1900. On the receipt of your letter of the 2nd July, the Pacific Cable Committee instructed Messrs. Clark, Forde and Taylor, their Consulting Engineers, to call for tenders for the construction and laying of the proposed Pacific Cable on the basis of the specifications and draft contracts submitted in the Committee's report of the 21st April last.
2. Copies of the forms of specification and contract* issued by Messrs. Clark, Forde, and Taylor in calling for tenders are enclosed.
3. Copies of the tenders* received, together with the reports of Messrs. Clark, Forde, and Taylor thereon are also enclosed.
4. The following is an analysis of the tenders:—
(A) W. T. Henley's Telegraph Works Company offered to complete Contract 3 in cleven months for £375,000. This offer expired 31st August, and was subject to a reservation as to the market price of gutta percha.
(B) The Silvertown Company offer "to use their best endeavours" to complete in eighteen months Contract 1 for £1,153,000, or Contracts 2 and 3, separately or com- bined, for £415,000 and £404,000 respectively, but they cannot undertake the whole work. This offer holds good until 31st March, 1901.
(c) The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company offered to complete Contract 1 for £1,067,602, Contract 2 for £388,358, and Contract 3 for £339,040, total £1,795,000, and they undertook to complete any one contract by 31st July, 1902. (D) Siemens Brothers and Company offer to complete Contract 1 for £1,235,000 in twelve months, Contract 2 for £512,200 in ten months, Contract 3 for £461,500 in ten months, total £2,208,700. They state, however, that the time required to complete the whole work or two of its parts would be less than the sum of the times quoted for each part separately. This offer holds good until the 14th instant.
5. The Committee did not regard any of these tenders as acceptable, but they were of opinion that the offer of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Com- pany, whose tender was the lowest for each of the three parts, afforded a basis for negotiation.
6. The Company were accordingly asked to revise their tender on the basis of all three contracts being placed with them. In reply they undertook, if allowed to commence with the Fiji-Norfolk Island and Norfolk Island-Australia and New Zea- land sections and to finish with the Vancouver section, to complete the whole line by
• See No. 23.
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