It is extraordinary that both the Government of Bombay and
the Government of India, who examined the scheme, did not perceive that an addition of 20 per cent, to the original estimate was wholly inadequate. The cost of the appliances and material had almost trebled, and wages had doubled since 1912. And there were other sources of error. Sir George Buchanan calculated, for instance, that the dredger would deal with a certain quantity of material per hour on the assumption that the material to be dealt With was similar to that which had been dredged up elsewhere. As a matter of fact, the sea-bed in the new area was of quite a different composition. This error might have been detected at once, as the, varying nature of the sea-bed was described in the papers laid before the Government of Bombay and the. Government of India, but nobody noticed it.
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