CO129-411 - Governor Sir May - 1914 [5-7] — Page 85

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I

COPY.

Confidential.

Sir,

Head Quarter Office,

Victoria Barracks,

Hongkong, 22nd. April, 1914.

Arbitration re Law Courts Contracts.

83

With reference to our recent conversation when you requested me to (i) inform you as to who should pay the costs of the arbitration, and (ii) to give you in confidence my impression of the Engineer late in charge.

In regard to (i).I suggest that the whole of the costs be borne by the Colonial Government for the following

reasons:-

of the several items of claim, there are very few in regard to which full justice has been done to the Contractor in the statement of account; consequently the award has been in the Contractor's favour on nearly all items, although the amount

is not all that was asked.

In the course of my investigations I have been impressed with the way in which variations were ordered without being properly recorded; and also with the failure to deal with and settle points of difference or difficulty at the time they

occurred.

This want of method placed the Contractor at a disadvantage, as he not understanding the English method of measuring - could not prepare and produce his own account for the final settlement; but had to trust to the Engineer in charge to keep records and adjust variations.

ly investigation has necessarily been confined to the items of claim put forward; but the result points to the possibility of there being other instances of undervaluation which a Surveyor representing the Contractor might have brought

to notice.

In regard to (ii). The impression formed on my

mind