Drew

Dewar & Chisholm, as contractors, entered into a contract with the board of trustees of the Southern California State Asylum for the insane and inebriates, January 5, 1894, by which they agreed to perform the labor and furnish the material required for the carpenters’ and plasterers’ work of a ward building for the asylum, at an agreed price to be paid as follows, viz., ninety per cent of the value of the materials used *587 and labor performed “as the work progresses,” and payment in full “upon the acceptance of said work by the board of trustees.” For the purpose of determining the amount of the several payments, the contract provided that the superintendent of construction should for each payment make a certificate “showing a full and accurate estimate of the labor performed and materials furnished under the contract, with the amount due thereon,” which estimate should, in all cases, give the amount of the preceding estimates, if any, and the amount of labor performed and materials furnished since the last estimate; and it was further provided that these estimates should not be required oftener than once a month, and that the trustees of the asylum should retain from each and…