CO129-357 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1909 [7-9] — Page 92

as Traffic Superintendent and Adviser regarding a Joint

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Working Agreement. I enquired therefore by telegram whether

Mr. Lindsey had been nominated by the Indian Government

C

(with whom Your Lordship's Department was aware that I was

negotiating) and on receipt of a reply that he had not been

You 2074-0

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so nominated, I telegraphed on the 21st. ultimo my con-

-currence subject to the concurrence of the Indian Board,

to whom I had very fully explained the qualifications

required, period of service, proposed salary and more

especially the nature of the problem to be solved in

negotiating a Working Agreement with the Chinese. I referr-

-ed Your Lordship at the same time to this correspondence,

a copy of which had been transmitted to your Department

under cover of my Despatch of the 8th. of last May. My

object was of course to avoid offence to the Indian Rail-

-way Board by suddenly appointing a man, without reference

to them, while they were engaged in selecting a man at my

request

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or in the alternative to avoid the possible

contingency of finding two men appointed to the same post

one by the Indian Railway Board and another by the Consult-

-ing Engineers - and at the same time to draw attention to

the nature of the negotiations regarding Working Agreement

contained in my Memorandum to the Indian Railway Board.

3.