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29
you decided to accede to the request of the Guardian's
that this work should be carried out by the Staff and
under the supervision of the Public Health Department,
without the intervention of a contractor. As
to the cost I am unable as yet to give the final figures
and I will therefore only say here for the information
of the Council, as well as the Guardians, that the
works have been inspected by representatives of the
Local Government Board, prior to the issue of the
necessary Authority to expend the money on each
section as the work proceeded. I have every reason
to believe those Gentlemen went away on each
occasion fully satisfied with all they had seen. To
this I would just add that I feel pretty safe in
predicting that the total cost of all this work is not
likely to reach one half of the highest figure so freely
mentioned about a year ago by those experts who in
their igorance could predict the actual "cost of this
terrible undertaking". For the comfort of these
friends and others I may mention the fact that I have
good hopes of getting out at about the lowest of all the
various sums mentioned at that time. So much the
better for the Guardians in particular and the ratepayers
in general, who have good value for money
expended on a matter that required most earnest
attention and which probably had been too long
delayed. In any case the conditions found existing
have more than justified the expenditure.
As to cost of
the Works.