CO129-349 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [10-12] — Page 382

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lead to this bridge and to the other one which is badly

affected were proceeding daily.

They are situated upon

the same formation (consisting of an upper crust with an

unstable sub-stratum) as the bridges, and one such embank-

ment has since subsided suddenly about 6 feet and is still

The Chief Resident Engineer has expressed to

sinking.

me the view that it was the thrust of these embankments

upon the abutment walls which had produced the cracks.

appeared to me therefore that it was an urgent matter to

It

decide at once whether the opinion held by the Director of

Public Works was based on reliable data and whether his

conclusions were justified, and if so, that work should be

suspended on the bridges.

In view of the opinion expres-

sed by the Chief Resident Engineer (that the report of the

Director of Public Works was unwarranted) it was manifestly

impossible for me to stop work, without an outside opinion

of such weight as would enable me to direct cessation of

the work without discrediting the Chief Resident Engineer

by subordinating his professional opinion to that of the

Director of Public Works. To refer the matter to the

Consulting Engineers and meanwhile to have allowed the work

on the bridges to proceed appeared to me to be a course of

action which would have entailed unnecessary expense to

this Colony, if (as there appeared good reason to believe)

the