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Proposed deputation to Ireland to engage additional staff for the Kowloon-Canton Railway construction has raised concerns among the government officials. The Consulting Engineers in selecting such a staff would have to rely upon the recommendation of others and the scope of selection would be limited to those who are not already in employment, and who therefore presumably may not be the best.
Furthermore, however good a general administrator Mr. Eves may be, he can hardly be said to be a tunnel specialist, and for the tunnel work on the Kowloon railway a tunnel specialist of ability is undoubtedly required. A man of this class would have to be highly paid and in fact would probably demand as large a salary as that of the Chief Resident Engineer himself.
Another complaint advanced against Mr. Eves was that he was inclined to be "intractable", in other words that he showed little disposition to take advice from the Director of Public Works or profit by the experience of the Public Works Department. There is perhaps some foundation for these complaints and we are inclined to think that in one respect at any rate Mr. Eves has failed to cultivate as he might have done that cordial relationship which ought to exist between the Public Works and the Railway Departments, but the definite instructions which he received from us to conduct the work on the departmental system as arranged with you in the outset of the works must be remembered as rendering him, in his opinion, unable to carry out the heavier portions of his work on the contract system. He seems also to have been inclined on the score of adding to the cost of the railway, to resent having to undertake the construction of several expensive accommodation works which have been held to be necessary in order to provide for the requirements of the scheme of future road development designed for Kowloon by the Public Works Department since the original surveys were made.
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269
Pwoduje do Irw
employees. The "onsulting Engineers in selecting such a staff would have to rely upon the recommendation of others and the scope of selection would be limited to those who are not already in employment, and who therefore presumably may not be the best.
Furthermore, however good a general administrator r. Evea may be, he can hardly be said to be a tunnel special- ist, and for the tunnel work on the owloon railway a tunnel specialist of ability is undoubtedly required. A man of this class would have to be highly paid and in fact would probably demand as large a salary as that of the Chief Resident Engineer himself.
Another complaint advanced against r. Fves was that he was inclined to be "intractable" in other words that he showed little disposition to take advice from the Director of Public Works or profit by the experience of the Public Works Department. There is perhaps some foundation for these complaints and we are inclined to think that in one respect at any rate "r. Eves has failed to cultivate as he might have done that cordial relationship which ought to exist between the Public Works and the Railway Departments, but the definite instructions which he received from us to conduct the work on the departmental system as arranged with you in the outset of the works must be remembered as render-
ing him, in his opinion, unable to carry out the heavier por- tions of his work on the "ontract system. Te seems also to
have been inclined on the score of adding to the cost of the
railway, to resent having to undertake the construction of
several expensive accommodation works which have been held to be necessary in order to provide for the requirements of the
scheme of future road development designed for Kowloon by
the Public Works Department since the original surveys were
made.
די
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