§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Under-secretary of State for the Colonies if he would state the cost per mile and the total cost of the railway in the Sultanate of Johore to the date of the latest catastrophe; how much that cost exceeded the original price for which a British firm had contracted with H.H. the Sultan to construct the line; the reason for compelling the Sultan to break his contract and enable the Crown Agents to entrust the work to incompetent hands; and the amount of compensation the Sultan was compelled to pay for having broken his contract?
§ The UNDERSECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Colonel Seely)Figures as to the cost of the railway are not yet available. I have already informed the hon. Gentleman that no British firm offered to construct a line similar to that which has been built, and that there can be no comparison between the present line and the light railway for which a rough estimate was drawn up about twenty years ago. There is no foundation for the suggestion that the Sultan was compelled to break his contract, or that the work was entrusted to incompetent hands, and the hon. Gentleman is no doubt fully aware from definite replies to previous questions that the Crown Agents had nothing to do with the matter. I believe that the Sultan of Johore paid £15,000 in order to free himself from some entanglement with a British firm. There was no compulsion in the matter.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked whether any liability attached to the giving of expert advice paid for by the Crown Agents for the Colonies; if so, how was the liability enforced when it resulted in defective work and waste of money; how many miles of the Johore Railway had been washed away owing to insufficient and defective bridge openings; whether he had got any estimate of the cost of the repairs; what steps, if any, had been taken to recover that loss from those to whose advice it was due; and whether His Majesty's Government had sanctioned its imposition on the Sultanate of Johore?
§ Colonel SEELYOwing to floods, resulting from very heavy rains, damage estimated at $150,000 was done to the Johore Railway. There was nothing in the nature of the damage done to indicate faulty construction, and the question of recovering money does not arise. The cost of the repairs will, of course, be defrayed by the owners of the line, the Government of Johore.