CO129-412 - Governor Sir May - 1914 [7-8] — Page 280

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accurate. I have dealt with the subject under paragraph 28. It

is the fact, however, that Mr. Fisher himself prepared the Bill

of quantities for the superstructure and that this work entailed

a very great deal of labour.

Paragraph 10. The list D referred together with a list C

of the most important letters sent by Mr. Fisher to the Contract- or on the subject of delay in the building will be found attach-

ed to the letter from Mr. Fisher of the 20th July, 1911, copy

enclosed, together with copy of Mr. Chatham's reply of 19th

Angust, 1911.

Paragraph 11. There is no official record of the threat

alleged to have been given by Mr. Jones to the Contractor in 1905. Nor is there any record that steps were in progress in

1909 for taking the work out of the Contractor's hands or of Mr.

Chatham's intervention in his favour in 1910.

I attach copy of a minute by Mr. Chatham, with

enclosure, in which he recommended the release of some of the security held by the Government against Chan A Tong's contract. Sir F. Lugard approved the recommendation.

It was not in 1910 but on the 25th of January,

1911, that Mr. Chatham recommended to the Governor the payment

of an advance of $6,000 to the Contractor. I enclose copy of a

minute by Mr. Chatham on the subject. The recommendation was approved by Sir F. Lugard. I also enclose copy of a minute dated the 20th May, 1911, in which Mr. Chatham recommended that as the Contractor was unable to pay his workmen the Government should employ and pay them without taking the work out of the Contractor's hands. The arrangement was approved by Sir F.

Lugard and embodied in a formal agreement.

Parseraph 14. Copies of the letters referred to are enclosed. It was not possible to reconcile the discrepancies in the figures in these letters till the accounts were finally closed. This has now been done and the report of the Arbitrator forwarded in my despatch No.161 of the 13th of May shows that

while