15.
suspicion of corruption, but that the Com- mittee has recognised that the agitation against the Office has not been entirely unjustified. The most fruitful cause of discontent the Committee reports, has been the existence of the rule laid down in the Colonial Regulations that the product or manufacture of the United Kingdom or of Europe, which are required by the Govern. ment of a Crown Colony should be obtained through the Crown Agents' Office. This rule the Committee considers to be to the general advantage of the Crown Colonies; but the Committee recommend that where- ever in any Colony firms exist able to pro- duce the articles required or to carry out any needed works and the Colony feels able to arrange for their adequate inspection such firms should be given opportunities of tendering on the same conditions as home firms. An announcement that this recom- mendation had been adopted would be welcomed in every Colony. It is a com- monly accepted notion that whatever is obtained through the Crown Agents costs the Government very much more than if it bad been obtained without their assistance; but in glancing through the portly volume of evidence we do not notice that this was conclusively established by evidence. Sir HENEY BLAKE, who said his experience with Crown Agents had been "perfectly satisfactory," made an indirect reference to the subject of cost when he said that the fact of there being a large reserve aris- ing from commissions made it evident that the Crown Agents were charging too much commission. "I think it would be received with great gratitude, by the Crown Colonies," SIR HENRY said, if you were able to announce that having regard to the volume of business you find that the Crown Agent is able to do his business for a smaller percentage." But that announcement does not find a place in
Page
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION BY CROWN AGENTS.
(Daily Press, 2nd April.) Those who have read the evidence on railway construction in Crown Colonies (printed in the Daily Press yesterday) which Sir FRANK SWETTENHAM gave before the Committee appointed to inquire into the organisation of the Crown Agents' Office cannot have failed to notice how applicable of his statements to the are many little experience of railway construction that we in this Colony have so far bad. Giving the experience of the Singapore railway, the ex-Governor of the Straits Settlements said the line took more than twice as long to construct as it ought to have done; it cost about twice the original estimate, and the work was not well done, for a bridge sub- sequently tumbled down and an embank. ment gave way. Everybody, Sir FRANK tadded, became a critic of the railway, so hat at last the engineer got so tired of it all that, mainly through the representations of the Government, when it was nearly completed, he went away. Now, it is interesting to compare the experience of Hongkong with this statement of the ex- perience of Singapore. When in 1905 it was decided to build the Kowloon railway by means of a loan, the Crown Agents seat out a capable engineer to make a preliminary survey on which they based a preliminary estimate. Sir MATTHEW NATHAN, in his great anxiety to push forward the construc- tion of the line with the utmost possible dispatch, instructed the Public Works Desartment to begin work in November 1905. Meanwhile the Crown Agents had appointed a Chief Resident Engineer, and the first thing that gentleman did when he came to the Colony in March 1906 was to find fault with the survey that had beer made an1 to alter the alignment to such an the Report. The Committee, however, extent as to render practically useless what reports that the present arrangements for work the Public Works Department had shipping appear to them to be not only already done at a cost of between twenty unduly expensive," but that they must and thirty thousand dollars. The original lead to delay and reduplication of work and estimate for these twenty-two miles of they therefore recommend that the ship railway was £550,000, but it is now known ping work hitherto performed, for the that the actual cost will not fall many Crown Agents of Messrs. J. and A. B. pounds short of a million sterling. So that FREELAND, should in future be carried out this Colony's experience agrees so far with by a Department of the Crown Agents.
that of Singapore in that (1) the line will Apart from these recommendations the only take about twice as long to complete as it other suggestion we need notice is one that
was at first expected to take; and (2) the a small bureau should be established in the line will cost about twice the original Department through which officials and
estimate. These facis have been already other persons connected with the Colonies ascertained. Whether the parallel might visiting England could get into better touch be further drawn we are with the Crown Agents and obtain
position to say, but we may here the benefit of their good offices. mention
that among other questions Lastly, the Committee recommend that asked in a letter which reached us quite information regarding the revenue and
recently was one as to whether it is a fact expenditure of the Crown Agents' Office, that bad cracks are being found in the and the salaries paid, should be published bridges, due to faulty foundations.
When annually, and, of course, communicated to His Excellency the Governor about a year the Colonial Governments. They furtherago gave in the Legislative Council a history suggest that Parliament should be given a better opportunity than exists at present for reviewing the operations of the Office. These are all very modest but eminently reasonable recommendations, and their adoption would certainly tend to give the Colonies a confidence in the system which is now generally lacking.
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"
The bronze statue of the Princess of Wales, excated by Mr. Geo. E. Wade, to the order of Mr. H. N. Mody,, has been brought to Hong-
not in a
of the railway he mentioned that the Home Government in adopting the departmental system of construction through the medium of the Crown Agents, claims that it saves contractors' profits; that alterations which further examination of the country or en- larged or altered views may render neces- sary, can at any time be made without liability to contractors which would he incurred if the contract had already been signed. It gives more direct supervision to the Government and gives more discretion as to change. These, said the Governor, are
[April 3, 1909.
· 4
local officials have not bad as a rule any experience of building railways, but as Bir FRANK SWETTENHAM told the Committee, it is surely just as easy for the Colony to appoint a chief engineer as it is for the Consulting Engineers. Under the present system the Consulting Engineers who are nominally the Government's technical advisers are actually the constructors of the railway; and the local Government. which pays the bill, has no effective control over the expenditure. His Excellency, the
Governor bimself admitted that the local Government is not in close touch with the consulting engineers and does not correspond directly with them.. Mr. HARRIS, one of the members of the Committee which inquired into the organisation of the Crown Agent's Office, said he had had some little experience of the Colonial Office and he could not help thinking that Sir FRANK SWETTENHAM was telling the Committee of a system which was an anomaly. Mr HARRIS should therefore be interested to learn that the system which he describes as an anomaly is the system under which the British section of the Kowloon-Canton rail- way is being constructed at the present time with results, in some respects at least analogous to those of the Singapore railway, and it is rather surprising to find no condemnation of this anomalous system in the Report of the Committee. The incredulity with which Sir FRANK
WETTENHAM's statements were received by members of Committee closely associated with the Colonial Office certainly justified expectation of a pointed reference to the subject in the Report.
RANDOM REFLECTIONS.
Yos. there is no doubt about it. The city is quieter and duller. The streets have not that particular animation given by Jack ashore, and already we miss the presence of the many bluff Americans who enlivened Hongkong for the past fortnight. Apparently they enjoyed their stay. the result of which is an improvement of the good relations existing between the two great Anglo-Saxon races.
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If the Americans remained here long they would spoil all our ricsha and chair coolies by their generosity. A dollar for a ride from the bottom of Garden Road to the Peak Tramway Station represents a scale of remuneration which we would not care to see becoming general though sailors were not the only ones to be had by the wily chair bearers. One dear old lady who was carried a similarly short distance sweetly paid the first nian fifty cents and rewarded the second man in like manner to his great surprise and satisfaction. Another American rode in a ricsha from the Hongkong Hotel to the Tele- graph office and paid the coolie twenty cents. The latter created a "bobbery." and explained first class ricsha." The argu- that his was a the additional twenty cents. Doubtless he said ment appealed to the visitor who handed over things when he learned later how he had been done. It certainly gives point to the statement that the American visitors spend their money freely.
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The sports arranged by the Entertain- ment Committee must be regarded as very satisfactory. They brought men together in friendly rivalry and did much to pro- mote a good understanding between the men of both countries. Perhaps the most satisfactory feature from our point of
view is that our men did so well in all the contests, and the reflection is all the more comforting at a
kong in the P. & O. 8. N. Co.'s steamer Nubia great advantages. No doubt they are, but decadence. The tugs-of-war were great feats of
which arrived on Saturday. We learn from a London correspondent who saw it before it was packed that the statue is an excellent likeness of Her Royal Highness, and is the first statue
cast of the Princess,
the point is whether the advantages are as great as they might be if the local Govern- ment were left to construct the line. The usual objection to such a course is that the
time when we hear so much talk of racial
strength, and endurance, as well as interesting demonstrations of unity of action, and the teams who participated in the final struggle were worthy representatives of their respective countries. The Americans were strong hefty
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