1.
No. 1908
19
HONGKONG.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION APPOINTED BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR TO ENQUIRE INTO THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT..
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government.
1. A Commission (see Appendix No. 1) was appointed by His Excellency the Gov- ernor to enquire into the Public Works Department on the 11th October last.
2. The Commissioners originally appointed were as follows:—
Honourable J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, C.M.G., ('hairman.
Honourable H. E. POLLOCK, K.C.
Honourable J. THURBURN.
Colonel L. F. BROWN, R.E.
ROBERT G. SHEWAN, Esq.
Owing to his having to leave the Colony, the Honourable H. E. POLLOCK resigned his seat on the Commission, and Mr. G. C. C. MASTER was appointed to fill the vacancy.
Mr. E. D. C. WOLFE was appointed Secretary.
The first meeting was held on the 18th October, 1991, and the last on the 18th March, 1902. Ten meetings were held altogether.
An unavoidable delay arose as it was deemed advisable to examine as a witness Mr. CHADWICK, the Sanitary Expert, who only arrived in the Colony on the 28th of February and did not appear before the Commission until the 13th of March.
Thirty witnesses in all were examined by the Commission including all the Senior Officers and Overseers of the Public Works Department and most of the leading Engineers and Architects engaged in private practice in the Colony, who are brought into intimate relations with that Department.
3. The Commission made a careful enquiry into the duties and responsibilities of the Public Works Department with a view to being in a position to report on the matters
specially referred to it, viz. :-
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a.) The constitution and sufficiency of the staff.
(b.) The advisability of increasing such staff or of making any changes in its
personnel.
(c.) Generally what changes should be made in the working of the Depart-
ment.
4. A clear and succinct statement drawn up by Mr. CHATHAM, Director of Public Works, of the Ordinances and Regulations under which the operations of the Public Works Department are carried on, of the present staff and the duties discharged by it, and of the expenditure on account of the Department from 1894-1900, will be. found in Appendix No. 2.
5. A careful perusal of the evidence taken by the Commission will show that it is clear that the staff, as at present constituted, is not sufficient to discharge efficiently the varied and important duties entrusted to it.
6. An instructive Statement (see Appendix No. 3) is attached by Mr. CHATHAM to his Report of the 25th September, 1901, in which he makes proposals for increasing the staff of his Department. That statement shows the amount of estimated and actual expenditure on account of public works from the year 1894 to 1900, and reveals the fact that during the period under review, owing to insufficiency of staff, it has not been possible to expend the money voted in the Estimates.
50-7.1.02.