G.— ENGINEERING. 133 



doubt they share in the profits which arise, and also take some of the 

 risks of losses with the contracting firm. 



The responsibilities thrown upon a contractor who has made the 

 arrangements indicated above vary considerably according to the accuracy 

 or otherwise of his estimate based on the information given to him or 

 otherwise obtained, and the amount of cover he provides for risks that 

 are not taken by the employing government or company or scheduled 

 by those who advised them. As examples, there are political risks arising 

 from revolutions or wars threatened or actual, climatic risks including 

 risks of sea action and possible destruction of the work, in some cases 

 even the risks of design — risks arising out of exchange and depreciation 

 of currencies in the country in which the contractor is working — risks of 

 labour disturbances and variations of wage rates either in the country 

 in which he works or arising out of, e.g., a coal strike in England if he is 

 dependent for supplies of fuel from this country ; risks arising from the 

 capital required and the interest on such capital ; risks of diseases among 

 the staff, either from the nature of the work or the climatic conditions, 

 which may be so bad that the labour required is very difficult, or perhaps 

 non-existent. The available means of access of transport are also 

 important as well as the provision of food and other supplies. Apart 

 from these, in some cases the contractor takes earthquake risks, those 

 of inundation from rivers in irrigation works, the risks of the strata of 

 the foundations on which heavy structures have to be placed, risks of 

 the borings and data handed to him on which to make up his tender 

 being accurate or not. Further, if it is a sea work upon which he is 

 engaged and an immense rubble dam for the base of a breakwater is 

 required, there is the risk of settlement into the sea bed which is nearly 

 always thrown upon the contractor, and sometimes that has involved him 

 in very great loss. Penalties for non-completion in time fall upon the 

 contractor, but generally with fair provisions for extensions for unavoidable 

 causes and force majeure. The amount of water to be pumped in deep 

 excavations or in the strata through which tunnels are driven is generally 

 his responsibility, and settlements, due to pumping in the surrounding 

 areas, if pumping in fact causes settlement in the subsoil (which often 

 happens) is generally another heavy responsibility. 



Over and above all this, the efficiency of his supervisory staff and of 

 all his local employees in a foreign country far from his base are matters 

 he has got to take into account in dealing with his valuation of the works. 

 Nor must the consideration of the solvency of the employer be left out 

 of his reckoning. The estimation of the cost of getting suitable raw 

 materials for the structure for which he makes a price depends, for example, 

 among other matters, upon the suitability of rock arising from local 

 stratifications giving, in the case of a breakwater, the large category 

 rubble which goes to build up such banks. 



Then if he takes, as he often does in South America, payments in 

 bonds or Government securities, he has to run the risk of a fall in the 

 values of the medium by which he is paid. 



I have not even now covered the whole of the possibilities of loss 

 which assail the constructor of large engineering undertakings, either at 

 home or abroad, and for which, after he has assessed to the best of his 



