CO129-334 - Governor Nathan - 1906 [5-7] — Page 39

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Dual control.

Resident Engineer under contract Bystem.

payment of unduly high wages), and on any matters

by which political relations with the natives

may conceivably be affected.

11.

From the above it may appear as though

the Resident Engineer is in the difficult posi-

tion of serving two masters. This has not in

practice been found inconvenient so long as

the Resident Engineer has possessed the neces-

sary qualifications to enable him to enjoy the

confidence both of the Consulting Engineer and

the Government, and has not been exposed to inter-

ference by Government Officers in matters pro-

perly within the province of the Consulting

Engineer. If these conditions cannot be secured

there is risk of failure to achieve a satis-

factory result, and some other system had better

be adopted. This may, if circumstances are

favourable, be the contract system, in which case

interference by the Government with the contrac-

tor's agent will bring about its own penalty in

heavy extra cost. Or the Resident Engineer may

be placed under the control of the Government

alone, the Consulting Engineer being either dis-

pensed with altogether, or relieved from responsi-

bility for the success of the work as a whole,

his functions being limited to giving advice and

assistance on such specific points as may from

time to time be submitted to him.

12. When the contract system is adopted it

may still be necessary to appoint a Resident

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Engineer