(4) The total amount of the fees paid to it up to that date.
(5) The amounts paid by it for goods ordered on behalf of Mr and Mrs Chua and utilised in the construction process.
25 It is important to bear in mind that I was not dealing with Archiworks' cross-claim. I was dealing with the preliminary issues identified at [7] of those reasons, and with a supplementary issue identified by Mr Bailey set out at [6].
26 The referee noted that, in my reasons, I used the words "value of construction work" as being effectively interchangeable with the contractual phrase "cost of the works". Further, he said, it was plain that what I required him to consider was the quantification of Archiworks' contractual entitlement, as advanced in its cross-claim (see at para 44 of the report).
27 In that context, the admission on the pleadings to which the referee referred is significant.
28 As the referee recorded at para 34, Archiworks pleaded that in the event of termination of the contract, the contract entitled it to "fees...to be calculated on a "value pro rata basis" by using a formula of actual costs incurred up until the date of termination against the estimated total cost of the works". Particulars were given: cl 19(a)(i) of the contract. The defence to cross-claim admitted paragraph 5 but, as the referee noted, referred to "paragraphs 25A - E of the proposed further amended statement of claim". The referee pointed out that there were no such paragraphs in any document before him, and accordingly assumed that the reference to those paragraphs was not of any significance. It was not suggested that he erred in this approach. It followed, the referee said, "that there is an admission by [Mr and Mrs Chua] that cl 19(a)(i) provided, within the definition "value pro rata basis", for a formula relating to "actual costs incurred until the date of termination against the estimated total cost of the works".
29 It followed, the referee said at para 36, that there was no qualification placed upon the definition to the effect that, in calculating the amount payable by way of termination fee, "one takes into account value of the work performed pursuant to the incurring of costs and expenses".
30 In my view, the approach taken by the referee is correct both on the proper construction of the relevant provisions of the contract and on the analysis undertaken by him of the issues on the pleadings.
31 It follows that, unless the orders require the referee to do otherwise, he was correct to undertake the task required to be performed by cl 19(a)(i) and not some assessment of the value of the works.
32 The referee gave detailed reasons for considering that the orders that I had made required him to undertake the contractual assessment. In doing so, he undertook a legitimate task: namely, the proper construction of the orders for reference. He did not, as Mr Bailey submitted before me he did, vary without authority the order for reference that had been made.
33 As the referee said, the issue with which I was concerned was the entitlement under clauses 18 and 19 of the contract. I was not concerned with some other issue, namely value of the works. What I wanted was, as I said at [46] of my reasons of 21 May 2009, recommendations made for the figures to be inserted in the definition of cl 19(a)(i), so that there could be a decision on Archiworks' cross-claim.
34 In my view, the referee did not err in his construction of the orders.
35 Nor do I think paras [34] and [51] of my earlier reasons, which were expressed in general language, required him to come to any contrary view.
36 It follows, in my opinion, that the referee correctly understood the task that he was to perform.