AGY-4958 | Royal Commission of Inquiry into the cost of the Cataract Dam

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The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Discrepancy between the Estimated Cost of the Cataract Dam, and the amount it is now anticipated it will cost to complete the structure was appointed on 13 March 1905. (1)

George Alexander Wilson, Chairman of the Public Service Board was appointed Commissioner and was to report by the 20 April 1905 but this was extended twice from 20 June to 31 July 1905. The Letters Patent instructed Commissioner Wilson to determine in his opinion:

i) what will be the probable cost of dams having respective heights of 145 feet and 150 feet to top-water level?

ii) what are the reasons, and what Officers, if any, are responsible for the difference of the probable cost as arrived at under question 1 of the dam 150 feet high and the estimated cost sanctioned by Parliament in Act No.87, 1902, on the recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, contained in the following resolution: “That, in the opinion of the Committee, it is not expedient the proposed concrete dam across the Cataract River, as referred to them by the Legislative Assembly, be carried; but the Committee recommend the construction of a dam, as designed by the Principal Engineer for Harbours and Rivers, 160 feet high, to impound 18,200 million gallons of water at a cost not exceeding £217,500.” (2)

The construction of a dam across the Cataract River was one of the recommendations of the Royal Commission appointed on 12 March 1902 to make inquiries into supplementing the supply of water and averting any future danger of scarcity. (3) However, during construction it became apparent that the cost of the dam had been underestimated and Commissioner Wilson was appointed to inquire into the “excess of the probable cost over the estimated cost, and the responsibility for such excess.” (4)

The first sitting of the Inquiry was held on 17 March 1900 and an inspection of the dam site was undertaken on 22 March. Further meetings were held on 27 and 31 March but the Inquiry was adjourned on this latter date to allow the Department of Public Works to negotiate with tenderers for the completion of the dam without the Inquiry causing embarrassment by publishing the cost of the works to date. (5)

The earlier sittings of the Inquiry were only of a preliminary nature and the real work of the inquiry opened on 14 April with a statement from the Department of Public Works and the taking of evidence, which continued until late June. (6) After considering all of the evidence, the Commissioner concluded the total net cost of the dam under construction (150 feet top-water level dam) would be £325,496 and the probable cost of the 145 feet top-water level dam would have been £301,496. (7)

The Commissioner found a number of people and factors responsible for the cost-overruns including: Surveyor McTaggart of the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage; Mr Wade who was Principal Engineer for Rivers, Water Supply and Drainage, Public Works Department; Mr Halligan, Hydrographic Surveyor, Public Works Department; Dr Kendall, Medical Officer, Water and Sewerage Board. The Commissioner also found Ministerial policy and public pressure on the Department of Public Works as contributing factors to cost overruns. (8)

The Commissioner’s Report was submitted to the Lieutenant-Governor on 28 July 1905.

Endnotes
1. Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the discrepancy between the estimated cost of the Cataract Dam, and the amount it is now anticipated it will cost to complete the structure, p.5, in NSW Parliamentary Papers, 1905 Vol.1, p.361.
2. loc. cit.
3. ibid., p.9.
4. ibid., p.10.
5. ibid., p.11.
6. loc. cit.
7. ibid., p.81.
8. ibid., p.82.