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THE HONGKONG
Government Gazette.
No. 9.
Published by Authority.
VICTORIA, SATURDAY, 27TH FEBRUARY, 1875.
VOL. XXI.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF HONGKONG.
No. 15 of 1874.
MONDAY, 16TH NOVEMBER, 1874.
PRESENT:
The Honorable the Chief Justice (SIR JOHN SMALE).
The Honorable the Colonial Secretary (JOHN GARDINER AUSTIN). The Honorable the Attorney General (JOHN BRAMSTON).
The Honorable the Colonial Treasurer (CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH).
The Honorable PHINEAS RYRIE.
The Honorable RICHARD ROWETT.
The Honorable WILLIAM HASTINGS ALEXANDER.
The Honorable JAMES WHITTALL.
ABSENT:
His Excellency Governor SIR ARTHUR EDWARD KENNEDY, K.C.M.G., C.B.
The Council meets this day at 2.30 P.M., pursuant to adjournment.
The Honorable the Chief Justice presides, and informs the Council that His Excellency the Governor
is unable to attend owing to ill-health.
The Minutes of the Meeting held on the 13th instant are read, corrected, and confirmed.
The Honorable the Colonial Secretary, by way of a personal explanation, desires to place on record that paragraph 3 of the Honorable PHINEAS RYRIE'S Protest of the 16th instant is not an accurate
statement.
The Honorable the Colonial Secretary reads the following Minute by His Excellency the Governor
regarding the Fire Brigade:-
"The complaints now made against the efficiency and organisation of the Fire Brigade are the first that have come to my knowledge either publicly or privately.
"The Brigade, as at present constituted, was handed down to me by my predecessor as being in a most efficient state, and until the present time I have never heard any other opinion, or of any want of promptitude when its services were required. No fire has occurred during the last two-and-a-half years which was not speedily extinguished.
"Under these circumstances, I have seen no necessity for interfering with an establishment which worked so satisfactorily. And, moreover, as the services rendered by the Brigade were to a great extent voluntary, I deemed interference or new rules to be injudicious and unneces- sary. I know of no shortcoming on the part of the Brigade as a body, nor on the part of those in charge of it.
"Nevertheless, I shall direct an enquiry as to whether the rules applicable to the Brigade can be amended, and also, with a view to a reduction of the cost, whether the charge to the public bears an equitable proportion to that borne by the Insurance Offices, who derive so large a benefit from the existence of an efficient Fire Brigade.
"I shall be glad to have some specific charge of inefficiency before any steps are taken to disturb a system which has hitherto worked so harmoniously, and, as far as my knowledge extends, efficiently."
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