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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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TLC.O. 885

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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Cement Company, will be about 1,200 tons. I am somewhat doubtful as to their being able to supply this, at least with cement fit for immediate use.

I therefore recommend that at least 300 tons be ordered from England through the Crown Agents and submit an indent accordingly.

The Honourable

I have, &c.,

R. D. ORMSBY, Director of Public Works.

The Colonial Secretary.

(Indent No. 2 of 1898.)

Government of Hong-Kong. PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT.

Requisition on the Crown Agents for the Colonies.

Description of Articles.

Quantity Required,

Probable Rates,

Amount

Cement, Portland...

Tous,

300

Per ton.

* 15s.

4523

Hong-Kong, January 26, 1898.

24765

SIR,

No. 37.

Remarks.

R. D. ORMSBY,

Director of Public Works.

FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

CROWN AGENTS to C'OLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received June 20, 1902.)

Downing Street, London, June 19, 1902, REFERRING to your letter, No. 4665/1901-1902, of the 7th February last,* respecting locomotives supplied for the Federated Malay States railways, I have the honour to enclose a copy of a letter which it has been found necessary to write to the States in connection with this matter. In the circumstances some time will elapse before we are in a position to reply to your letter.

I have, &c.,

Enclosure in No. 37.

M. A. CAMERON.

CROWN AGENTS to SECRETARY TO THE RESIDENT-General of FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

(78 E/213/1.)

鼻

Downing Street, June 19, 1902.

SIR,

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, No. 6866/1901, of the 9th January last, forwarding a copy of a letter from the General Manager of Railways to the Consulting Engineers respecting locomotives Nos. 25, 26 and 27.

2. We have since received from the Colonial Office duplicates of the enclosures to your letter, together with a copy of a despatch from the High Commissioner on the subject, and the report which we shall eventually make will therefore be addressed to the Secretary of State. In the meantime I forward a copy of two letters we have received from the Consulting Engineers on the subject, and have to request that you will send us the further information asked for, as well as the brass side rod bushes referred to in the 6th paragraph of the letter of the 12th instant.

I have, &c.,

* 4665412, not printed : see No. 29-

M. A. CAMERON.

;

*

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Perak Government Railways.

Complaint in regard to Locomotives constructed by Messrs. R. Stephenson and Co. GENTLEMEN,

June 2, 1902. WE have now the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 11th February, in which you forwarded to us a copy of a letter from the Colonial Office, covering a copy of a despatch, and its enclosures, from the High Commissioner of the Federated Malay States, respecting the defects in the three Locomotives supplied under Requisition No. 1. Perak. The defective parts referred to in these papers reached us at a later date, and on their receipt we at once called for a report from the Inspecting Engineers; we have recently visited the works of Messrs. R. Stephenson at Newcastle, with the Inspecting Engineers, and have investigated in person the complaints which have been made by the Locomotive Engineer of the Perak Railways, with a view to furnishing you with the full report for transmission to the Secretary of State, for which you called in your letter.

+

2. Unfortunately, the brass side rod bushes to which reference is made in the papers had been omitted from the parts sent to this country, and on the 10th April we communicated with the Acting Resident Engineer asking that they might be sent

to us.

As some time must elapse before their receipt, we think it well to report to you on the papers, leaving any further remarks, should we consider such necessary, until we have had an opportunity of examining the brasses.

3. We propose to take up each item in the annexures to Mr. Scott Gardner's report in the first instance, dealing later with the general results of our investigation, but in regard to the statement that various parts of these Locomotives arrived between May 1st and July 29th, but it was not until the 21st May that one Engine was received complete, and on the 29th July the other two Engines had been received complete, the Inspecting Engineers report to us that the official trials took place on the 1st February, the 15th February, and the 1st March respectively, and that each Engine was shipped complete, the delay, therefore, in receiving certain parts of the Engines at different times would not appear to be due to any default on the part of the Contractors.

Engine No. 25.

(1.) One-sixteenth inch difference between the centres of wheels on the right, and left sides.

In regard to this it is stated that the Engine was erected in the usual way and given a trial trip, but after running two miles it had to be stopped owing to the excessive heating of the side rod bushes. The side rods were taken down and the Engine returned to the shed. It was then found that there was a difference of one- sixteenth inch between the centres of the driving and trailing wheels on the right and left sides, and that the side rod bushes were slack in the rods, one was so loose that it fell out when the taper pin was withdrawn, the taper pin had been cut away to permit its insertion past the bush; this pin was sent for report and inspection. The makers state that the wheel centres were carefully tramelled and were accurate when the Engines left their shops, and the Inspecting Engineers say that these centres were checked by them, and that they took great care to examine by tramelling the frames transversely, diagonally, and longitudinally, and that they were correct, they point out that very great care is required to ascertain whether an Engine is right in the centres or not; there must be no curve on the rails when the Engine is measured, and the frame must be carefully levelled; if these conditions are not fulfilled the Engine may be found to be apparently incorrect, whilst the error is really in the method of carrying out the examination. It is a pity that the side rod bushes were not sent home, as these would have shown clearly the action that had taken place, and would probably have enabled us to determine the accuracy of the statement that the centres of the wheels were incorrect. We have come to the conclusion that there is some ground for these complaints, as the defects are stated to have occurred in all three Engines, and differently in each, and the methods of adjustment had to be varied accordingly. There is no doubt that the side rod bushes heated in running, and from the appearance of the taper pin we may assume that the coupling rod eyes swelled owing to this heating, causing the bushes to work loose in the rod. The appearance of the wear in the taper pin, attributed by the Locomotive Engineer to the filing of these pins, is consistent with this theory; the pins could not have been filed for the purpose of fitting as they would not have gone into their places, but we have seen pins.

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