CO129-452 - Others & Individuals - 1918 — Page 463

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was held in Lendon at which the Oerlikon Co. called in Messrs

Blackwells the well known British Engineers. As a special case

it was arranged that a joint effort should be made by these Firms

to obtain part of the plant in Switzerland and part in America and

by this means secure a contract price which could be cabled to

Hong Kong in time for the Solicitors to put before the Chinese

investors before January 29th, 1918, so that the financial assurance

could be given to the Government.

This proved far more difficult than was anticipated for

though Messrs Blackwells were in close touch with the American

market the effort coincided with Americas speeding up with her

War preparations. Moreover the subject was found too lengthy and

too complicated to be dealt with entirely by cablegrams and the

mail took three or four times longer than in peace time.

Delay of several weeks was caused through the loss of

twe separate sets of plans in transmission between England and

Switzerland. After the passing of several cablegrams it was

considered that the plans had been stopped by one of the Censors

and a further set was dispatched with a note of explanation and a

request that the Firm should be consulted if necessary. On this

occasion the plans reached Switzerland safely. After this the

designers in Switzerland proposed a number of improvements which it

was obviously in the interests of the Colony should be carried out

and this has involved a new set of layout plans with corresponding

further delay.

Thus it was found quite impossible to obtain a contract

price to be cabled to Hong Kong in time and the Oerlikon Co. and

Blackwells have come to the conclusion that the only possible course

of action is to give an approximate price. It is then proposed to

complete the complicated designs and, if the Company has been formed,