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the 31st December, 1902, but the only abatement they were prepared to make from their original tender of £1,795,000 was an offer to carry out, without charge, the sounding and survey operations specified in Contract 4, and estimated by the engineers to cost £24,000.

7. The Committee had hoped to obtain from the Company a more substantial reduction in consideration of the whole work being given to them, but the negotiations for a further reduction failed.

8. The Committee are, however, satisfied that the offer of the Company, as it stands, is the best obtainable, and they unanimously recommend that the whole work should be placed with them.

9. The engineers' estimate for Contracts 1, 2, 3, and 4 was £1,491,659. In explanation of the discrepancy between this sum and the amount of the Company's tender, the Committee desire to invite attention to the remarks on the state of the gutta-percha market made in Messrs. Clark, Forde and Taylor's report of the 17th August, and in Messrs. Henley's letter to Messrs. Clark, Forde and Taylor of the 13th August.*

10. If the Company's tender is accepted, the total cost of establishing the cable, allowing for miscellaneous and supplementary expenditure estimated at £180,000, will be £1,975,000.

11. The adjustment of the points raised by the Company in the letter accom- panying their original tender does not appear to the Committee to be a matter of any difficulty.

12. The revised offer of the Company remains open until the 31st instant, and is subject to a proviso that the contract shall be signed not later than the 31st December,

1900.

13. To save time the Committee have embodied a summary of the tenders re- They ceived and their recommendation in the memorandum submitted herewith. will be glad if it can be communicated by telegraph to the Colonial Governments interested with as little delay as possible.

I am, &c.,

51

Negotiations with Company for further reduction in tender have failed, and Committee consider that the Company's offer as it stands is the best obtainable.

If adopted, total cost of establishing cable will be £1,795,000, plus £180,000, the estimated amount of miscellaneous and supplementary expenditure, i.e., £1,975,000.

Telegraph as soon as possible views of your Ministers as to acceptance of tender. Committee regret delay, but negotiations with Telegraph Construction and Main- tenance Company have only just been concluded.

87747

No. 33.

COLONIAL OFFICE to the PACIFIC CABLE COMMITTEE.

SIR,

Downing Street, November 26, 1900. WITH reference to your letter of the 12th October,* I am directed by Mr. Secre- tary Chamberlain to state, for the information of the Pacific Cable Committee, that Her Majesty's Government, and the Governments of Canada, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and New Zealand, have all agreed, as recommended by the Com- mittee, to the acceptance of the Tender of the Telegraph Construction and Main- tenance Company for the manufacture and laying of the proposed Pacific Cable.

2. The Committee should now formally notify to the Company the acceptance of their Tender, and Mr. Chamberlain understands that a meeting of the Committee has been arranged for this purpose.

I am,

&c.,

H. BERTRAM COX.

C. T. DAVIS,

Secretary.

No. 34.

7

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

7

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

Enclosure in No. 32.

MEMORANDUM BY PACIFIC CABLE COMMITTEE.

(Strictly confidential.)

Following tenders have been received by Pacific Cable Committee:—

(A) Henley's offered to complete in 11 months for £375,000 Contract 3 in Ap- pendix of Committee's Report. This offer expired 31st August, and was subject to reservation as to the market price of gutta percha.

(B)

Silvertown Company offer to use their best endeavours to complete in 18 months Contract 1 for £1,153,000, or Contracts 2 and 3, separately or combined, for £415,000 and £404,000 respectively, but will not undertake whole work. This offer expires 31st March, 1901.

(c) Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company offer to complete Con- tract 1 for £1,067,602, Contract 2 for £388,358, and Contract 3 for £339,040, total £1,795,000. They undertake to complete any one contract by 31st July, 1902, but if whole work is given them, and they are allowed to start with Contract 3 and end with Contract 1, they will complete by 31st December, 1902, and also carry out without further charge the sounding and survey operations specified in Contract 4 (estimated by engineers to cost £24,000). This offer expires 31st October, 1900.

(D) Siemens offer to complete Contract 1 for £1,235,000 in 12 months, Contract 2 for £512,200 in 10 months, Contract 3 for £461,500 in 10 months, total £2,208,700, but state that the time required to complete the whole work or two of its parts would be less than the sum of the several times. This offer expires 14th October, 1900.

Committee unanimously recommend that whole work should be given to Tele- graph Construction and Maintenance Company; The engineers' estimate for Con- tracts 1, 2, and 3 was £1,467,659; discrepancy is due entirely to the advance in the price of gutta percha.

• Ser No. 23.

THE PACIFIC CABLE COMMITTEE to MESSRS. CLARK, FORDE, and TAYLOR. GENTLEMEN,

Downing Street, November 28, 1900.

I HAVE laid before the Pacific Cable Committee your letter of the 9th ultimo,t which you accept their offer of an inclusive fee of £20,000 for your services in con- nection with the Pacific Cable, " on the understanding that it is not the intention of the Committee that you should be called upon to make any disbursements for the services of other professional men in such matters (for instance) as the design and supervision of the construction of a maintenance ship."

2. The Committee acquiesce in this understanding.

3. They have, further, no objection to the fee being paid in the manner which you propose in substitution for that named in my letter of the 5th ultimo.‡

No. 35.

I am, &c.,

C. T. DAVIS.

THE PACIFIC CABLE COMMITTEE to the TELEGRAPH CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE COMPANY.

Downing Street, November 29, 1900.

SIB,

I AM directed by the Pacific Cable Committee to state that they accept on behalf of Her Majesty's Government and of the Governments of Canada, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and New Zealand, the tender of the Telegraph Con- struction and Maintenance Company for the manufacture and laying of the proposed Pacific Cable, as modified by your letters to Messrs. Clark, Forde, and Taylor, of the

• No. 32.

↑ No. 31.

No. 29.

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3rd and 19th September,* whereby the Company undertake to complete by the 31st December, 1902, the manufacture and laying of the entire cable and to carry out the necessary sounding and surveying operations in connection therewith, for the sum of £1,795,000.

2. The Committee agree to the condition on which this offer is made, viz., that the Company should be allowed to commence the work by the laying of the Fiji-Norfolk Island, and Norfolk Island-Australia and New Zealand sections, and to finish it by the laying of the Vancouver Section.

3. The Committee's acceptance is subject to the satisfactory adjustment of the points raised in your letter of the 14th August, which accompanied the original tender. Messrs. Clark, Forde, and Taylor have been instructed to confer with you in regard to this and the other preliminaries to the execution of the contract which is being pre- pared by the Solicitor to Her Majesty's Treasury.

• Enclosure 2 in No. 24 and Enclosure 2 in No. 25.

1

I am, &c.,

C. T. DAVIS.

↑ See page 36.