Sessional_Paper_1902 — Page 376

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1897

Q-If he deliberately alters?

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1900

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A-The architect would probably write in to the Public Works Department and say he had no further responsibility in connection with the work.

By the Chairman.--What is the remedy to be then, to see that nobody but qualified architects are allowed to have connection with the work ?

A--That raises a very difficult question then as to who are properly qualified ar-" chitects. I think the best thing is to make owners responsible.

Q-And throw all checking on the Public Works Department ?

A--Yes.

Q-But would they not want an enormous staff to check properly?

A-But it would be under the architects; they would require to be checked just the same if you are to make thent responsible. Take, for instance, the Cochrane Street collapse, which of course raised the whole question. I do not know what the owner lost; I think he lost very little, but he should have paid, in my opinion, for clearing the streets, and damages for blocking them.

By Mr. Shewan.-But he lost his house?

A---It was all his own fault; he paid nothing to the Colony.

Q-But don't you think the man who is responsible for the building of the house should be responsible to the owner?

A-Yes, if his advice is taken, but if the owner is made responsible, he can always come down on the architect for wrongly advising him.

Q-The architect is supposed to notice a thing, but the owner is not. In nine out of ten cases the owner takes the architect's advice ?

́A—No, I don't think that is so with Chinese owners.

Q--Certainly the technical man should be responsible?

A-Yes, if he is given a free hand, but it is not so as it is now with Chinese clients. Q-The suggestion in that letter is that the architect shoull be made responsible. That seems to me a fairer suggestion than that the owner, who has no technical know- ledge, should be made responsible. Do you not think so?

A-No. I do not, because the owner, if anything goes wrong, can always come down on his employé-the architect.

Q-How can he?

A-Well, he has the architect's account to pay.

Q-But if the owner's house collapses and he is mulcted in heavy damages for loss of life, would he get that out of the architect?

A-He would not get such heavy damages, but there are very few such cases. -I am referring to the majority of cases in which an owner tells his contractor to put in a window, or something of that sort, which is not in the plan, and the contractor generally does it.

Q-What is your opinion of the system of ordering goods through the Crown Agents? Is that a good or a bad system?

A-The only complaint that I have against them is that they are very slow. I have heard it said that goods got out through them are more expensive than those got out through our agents. But I have no means of judging, but they certainly are very slow.