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sidered such a proceeding absolutely unnecessary and that I could not carry out any such order without referring the matter to you as I was working directly under you in purely engineering matters and was responsible to you only, that I considered the crack a very slight affair and of no importance as it had not got any larger for some time now though it had been tested almost to its full load up to the present. He informed me that His Excellency wanted to appoint a select committee to examine the bridges, and I replied that there were only two Engineers in the Colony in my opinion capable of judging on such works as I did not consider any of the architects qualified to pass an opinion on such structures
as were being built on the Railway.
6. This order has now come to me and I will forward
their report to you as soon as possible together with draw- ings of the bridges and an account of my reasons for founding
as I did.
17. In the meanwhile I would ask you to inform me as to my position with regard to any recommendations they may put forward. I do not know as yet who will form the committee
but from the small number of Civil Engineers accustomed to Railway construction and its methods, I cannot bind myself to carry out any suggestions they may put forward without first referring the matter to you, who are the Consulting Engineers and advisors of the Government of Hong Kong in this
matter.
8.
I
fullgre
recognise the position His Excellency has
taken in this matter. He has explained to me that he feels
bound to show that while not being in a position to judge of
the seriousness or otherwise of the cracks he has taken steys
to inquire into the matter fully in case of a future accident
on the Railway.
I also acknowledge that it would be absurd
to
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