The San Francisco call., 1898-12-07

record was then made in the official in- quiry that the specifications were not fol- lowed
 Answering questions put by his counsel, E. B. Young. MT. Cronin testified that he did not desire to be understood as saying that the architect or Harbor Commission CTS authorized him to ignore the specifica- tions. but advised him to do the work in workman-like manner.
 In the evening the Senate Investigating committee convened at o'clock. and incl. dentaily tested the Illuminating facilities of the Eiar5or Commissioners ana ctments or or the Union Depot while giving attention Bateman; who had the contract for car penter, plaster and glazing work He tes- Ilhed that iron braces, steel beams, joist anchors. and other material cost a great deal more money than the prices esti- mated by the expert. The cost of his work was increased by numerous delays for Wnlcn ne was not responsible He said he complained of the Instructions and placed many of his complaints before MT Robin son, who was superintendent of construc- Senator Dickinson called E. L. Colnon. Harbor Commissioner. to the witness stand MT. Colnon. replying to questions. sioner in March, 1895. The foundation of the depot was then half finished and the plans for the superstruetpre had been pre-, pared. The sum of $4000 had been allowed the architect. A. Page Brown. but no pro- posals had been invited. No other archi- ad besn bean M hSTn % so fso@ far s sioners were Dan T. Cole and k. $. Chad bourne. Contracts were awarded Decem- Der "A, 1895, on plans prepared by MT. Brown. Architect Percy was employed to expert the plans. There was great deal of newspaper criticism about this time. It was said that the plans had been so drawn that local iron men were excluded from bidding. l was the private secretary of Governor Budd just before my appoint ment. and I thought It best to have the foundation exported, as newspaper re- ports represented the foundation work as inferior.
 MT. Percy did not change the plans drawn by MT. Brown and bids were re- ceived on the original plans. but no work was done until nearly year had elapsed We had a long period of litigation. The change in the material from Oregon to Colusa stone went to the Supreme Court I was opposed to changing material after a proposal had been made. did not vote for the change until the court and the Attorney General of the State decided that we had the right to change. The 1 contract price of the stone was s230 900.
 Replying to further questions by the chairman Mir. Colnon testified that the mistake in building the depot was the failure to keep within the limit of s60b .000 Exhaustive tests were made of the stone and no mistake was made in accepting the Colusa material. as the tests demon strated its superiority.
 Senator Dickinson asked what right the i board had to exceed se00,o00 or adopt changes.
 The Commissioner said the board con- suited the Governor and Attorney Gen eral. Some of the changes were suggest ed by the demands of the transportation companies.
 In the course of his testimony the wit In the changes, but subsequently, added that the Harbor Commissioners were unanimous on all questions relating to the construction of the building"