CO129-350 - Public Offices - 1908 — Page 144

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Consulting Engineer' report with estimate.

Sanction of Scheme

Departmental system T. Contract

complete the investigations.

must

The exact arrange-

ments in each case depend upon circumstances

4. On the receipt by the Crown Agents of the

Consulting Engineer's report, accompanied of

course by estimate of cost, it is sent to the

Colonial Government for consideration. Doubt-

ful points are settled by correspondence until

the scheme reaches a shape in which it is adopt- by the Colonial Government & its execution sanction-

ed by the Secretary of State.

5.At this stage, unless the point has already

been considered, it is usually necessary to

decide whether the work shall be executed by con-

tract or on what is known as the "departmental"

system. A discussion of the relative advan-

tages of the two systems would be beyond the

scope of this memorandum, but briefly it may

be stated that where the magnitude and character

of the work and the locality in which it lies

are such as would be likely to attract contract-

ors of good standing, and where it admits of

being designed and estimated in full detail

beforehand, the contract system may present ad-

vantages. Where, on the other hand, from the

nature of the stheme or pressure of time the

design ca not be completed in detail before-

hand; or where for whatever reasons it is likely to be much modified during execution; or where,

as in town drainage, the convenience of local

bodies or of the inhabitants has to be studied ·

so that a contractor could not be given freedom

to

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