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Q-You gave us a list of the work you are attending to including the Blake Pier. Are you busy on that work?
A-Yes. I am now making contract drawings.
Q-That is all the work you are doing on the Blake Pier ?
A--The contract is not let yet.
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Q--We hear that the design was accepted some months ago ?
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A--About twelve days ago, I was asked to prepare the tenders for it.
Q-How long ago is it since your design was accepted ?
A-I could not give you the exact date.
Q-Roughly, how many months?
A-Three or four months ago.
Q-Well, if that was the only work you had to attend to, would you not have gone on at once with tenders, etc. ?
A--No, because there was plenty of work in the office to do.
Q--Had that been the only work, would you probably have gone on with it and completed same in a week or so ?
A--No, there is at least six weeks' work.
Q-Are you overworked?
A--There is certainly a pressure of work in the office. I have told you the hours I have been working this week. I always do my best in instances of this kind.
The Chairman.-The vote for the work connected with the Blake Pier was only passed by Council when the 1902 Estimates were brought forward.
By Mr. Shewan.--Do I understand that the Commission is enquiring into why work is so much delayed?
The Chairman.-No work can be undertaken unless a vote has been passed for it.
Mr. Shewan.-It is not the Public Works Department that is to blame then. The public hear the design is accepted and they then wonder why the work is not pro- ceeded with.
By Colonel Brown.--Have you much office work?
A-Yes.
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Q-As Assistant Engineer?
A--Yes.
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Q-What does it come to?
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A-Preparing detail drawings and supervising the work in hand. Then there is the list I have already given you. I am now preparing drawings, specifications and quantities for the new Western Market, the new Harbour Office, the Market at Kow- loon and the Law Courts. All the work in connection with these buildings will have to be done in the office.
Q-Could you not relegate some of that work to a lower paid man, taking out the quantities, for instance, and doing mechanical work?
A-No, because it is work that could not be entrusted to a lower paid man, with any degree of accuracy.
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