£
March 16, 1908.]
text and framed for hanging on the walls of the Board room as a perpetual reminder to the President and the members generally. Before passing away from this question of the Board's powers of control there is one other point to notice. It is that His Fxcellency proposes to make certain changes in procedure which, while they serve to show that he is not entirely out of sympathy with the aspirations voiced by the Commissioners, will at the same time add emphasis to the declarations above quoted, His Excellency said :
I propose that the head of the department shall, before the 31st March of each year, lay the Estimates before the Sanitary Board for discussion, together with any proposal which he may have to make regarding works of a sanitary nature included in the vote for Public Works Extraordinary. 1 propose that he shall consult the Sanitary Board on any sugges'ed changes in giving effect to sanitary Byelaws; that he shall inform the Board of any change in the organisation of the staff; that be shall inform them regarding any re- commendations for appointment, leave, or dis- missal of the European staff; and that he shall las before them any complaint of the public regarding the st ff.
This seems a very satisfactory concession and will go far towards checking such a state of things as the Commissioners represent when they say that "the excessive powers given to Sanitary inspectors, coupled with insufficient supervision, resulted in considerable laxity on the part of the inspectors as to the execution of their duties and is responsible in a great measure for the corruption which existed." On this we hare from the Commission the claim that "the B. ad must have full power to order and direct the officers and servants to carry out their orders, which orders should pass through the hands of the Secretary whose duty it should be to see them carried out.”
One would suppose that the Secretary of such a department as the Sanitary D. partment would bave enough duties of a secretarial character to monopolise his whole time end attention; and to impose on him the additional responsibility f seeing that the orders and directions given by the Beard to its officers and servants are carried out seems a very large order indeed quite sufficient, in fact, to engage the whole attention of one man. No Secretary of any Municipality in the world bas such an extensive range of duties to perform as this claim would seem to impose. Efficient supervision in such circumstances could not reasonably be expected. The Commission would by this paragraph impose on the Secretary duties which in reality constitute him the administrative head of the whole department, though they withheld from him that designation. But when the Commis. sion proced to work out their scheme of reorganisation they abandon this idea of a glrified Secretary" and give to him the status of a Sveretary (or Clerk, as such an officer is usually called) to a Home Municipality. This is the scheme :-
312. (1.) There should be & Secretarial Te. partment, the Secretary being co-equal with the heads of this other sub departments, but having the right to control the entire correspondence, and be kept fully rdvised as to all that is taking place, in exactly the same way that & Secretary to a Home Munici. pality, or of a larga Company, is
the centre of all information.
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT
183
arguments advanced by the Director of Public | question does not enter into the matter at all Works against this proposal appear to him, as We can leave it then as a disputed point, and they did to bis predecessor (Sir Matthew take the objection raised by the Governor, Nathan) to be convincing. The 10 and namely that it would not be to the benefit of substance of those arguments is that the the department to be run as a separate con creation of an Engineering section under the cern, as you would not get the same class of control of the Sanitary Board must necessarily men, nor would you have the same continuity. mean duplication, additional cost a d friction, Opinions will probably differ on that point: and the Governor, recognising the justice of the but the vital question is would the Sanitary complaint of the Commissioners on the score of Board get over the new set of officers more division of control, bas provided in the Bill now effective control than it is possible for them to before the Council for the transfer of such bave under such a modification of present con- officers as are now employed under the Building ditions as the Government proposes ? If the Authority from the Fanitary Board to the ex-Commissioners are able to show that the Public Works Department.
Gover. ment's proposals are inadequate in this connection, they should take an early op- portunity of doing so, in order that the publio
¦
Apart from this-and it is a very important reservation-the demands made by the Commission 80 far as administration is concerned seem, for all practical purposes, to be conceded by the Gov ·rament. Perhaps ! in the matter of controlling the fiance; the Sanitary Board does not secure as much as the Commission aimed a'. It is concedad that the Board shall be consulted in the framing of the Estimates, and while the Commission mada no suggestion of interference with the right of the Governor to modify the Estimates as may appear expedient, or with the Legislative Council's power of control over the Budget, pet the proposals of the Govern Leat do not appear to meet the request of the Com. mission for a restoration of “the chatred of the money voted for the Department. His Excellency has gathered the impression that the Commission desire that the Sanitary Board | should deal with the money "as a lump sum, but paragraph 378 makes it clear that the Com- mis-ion ask that the Board shall be responsible for the proper "xpenditure of the money *in accordance with the terms of the vote" l'here is no very obsions difficulty in
the way
of conceding such control. It is a reasonable request and may, perlap, b met by letting the whole of the mouthly accounts go before the Financ› Committes to recommend to th- fail Board the payment of such accounts as they may find to be in order. In some of the best administered municipalities at Home, it is the practice to give in the printed agenda a full list of the accounts recommended to the full Board for payment, and a perusal of the Report of the Commission suggests that if this method of procedure bad bu adopted by the Sanitary Board some of the irregularities disclosed by the evidence taken by the commission might hire been discovered very much earlier than they were,
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(2.) The Medical, having at the bead, the Medical Officer of Health, with Assistant Medical Officers of Health. (3.) The Engineering Section, with an Executive Engineer, Assistant Engineers, and Overseers, as may be found necessary. (4) The Ve erinary Department, under the Calenial Veterinary Surgeon, with supervision of markets and¦ fool supplies generally.
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Secondly, the Governor's speech concedes to the Sanitary Board a more satisfactory measure of control over its officers and servants than !
may
have the fullest information
subject.
no
on the
This has been written simply as a contri- bution to the discussion, and with no wish to dogmatise. Because the Government has not accepted every conclusion that the Commissioners have made, a has'y disposition has been shown to abuse and condemn and to represent that the public-spirited labours of the Commissioners have been all to
purpose. One would suppose that there is absolutely no hope of reform and that the same unsatisfactory con- dition of things revealed by the investigation of the Commissioners will continue to mark the initary admin stration of the Colony. Anyon, however, who reads what the Govern- ment has already done and further intend to do by ex-cutive action; sad what is proposed to be done by legislative action in the Bill now before the Council as the direal outcome of the Commission cannot regard the work of these gentlemen as having been treated by the Government sa of small value. Ereu though the Goverument may not be convinced that ry recommendation the Commissioners made will be for the public good, affect har, is about to be given to & great
of their recommandations which
go to purify, improvo and increase the efficiency of the public service. Even no points where the Ga erum-nt and the Commission differ, it cannot be and that the alternativ proposals which the Government make do not aim at a higher standard of efficiency in the administra- tion than bas existed in recent years; and though there may be no quasi-municipality created to as a monument of the Commission, it, is abundantly clear that they have socured for the community a purißnd administration, and will the yet secure important improv-minta in soit ry laws, and greater efficiency generally in the administration.
pr
many
serva
But the fact cannot be overlooked that the the whole control of the 10 the Public Works out all such
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it has a the present time. His Excellency's ; transference of
F
work engineering arguments against pising to the Board the power of appointing and discharging offers, ! Department practically shuts however, scarcely met The paint. His Excellency | questions from the arena of public debate. It said "it out possible for any corporate body can hardly b intended that the discussions to dismiss officers appoin ed nodr the which have taken place at the Sanitary Board Crown whose rights are safeguarded to them on such questious have not been of great value, through the representative <f the Crown to say the least, in showing the need for the with an
Whether the ultimate right of appeal to
am-ndmout of the Ordinance. "The Commission it may b⋅ amendments now propos -d are satisfactory is a Secretary of State pointed out, fally admit this in paragraph 35i question largely for the architeo's and property of their Report. Their proposal is that future owners; and the o immunity must await their well-considered judgment on these matters appoiu'ments shou'd not lie Crown appoint nents and that
officers should such
b.. before they can accurately gange the advantage of more direot public control over this work than the nw proposals of the Government will allow.
the
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The American Consul General at Shanghai bas been advised by cable from the Ipartment of State that the charges preferred against Judge Wildey by Mr Andrew on November 19, 197, have be a fully examined by the President and that the conclusion is reached
responsible only to the Bird. After all, the salaries of the civil servants in the Colony ara I paid out of the rates of the Colony, and on- might be tempts to ur e that it is against public right to d by the power of control over public servants to those who pay them. But when we open up this question in Hongkong we are confronted with the obrious gunent that the Stoitary Board would have fery small right to claim eutral on this ground, because it cannot be contended that the Board i‹ a thoroughly representative body rafially, either! as regards population or rateable value. Commission is content with the present con-
fire Early on March 10th
was dis 'overed stitution, but if the power of control is con・ to have broken out in a grocer's shop in Station ceded to the erent the Commissioners demand the future is certain to disclose that this on
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The
It is mainly on the question of the control of cession involves the admission of the principle, the engineering staff that the Commission's ¦ of "representation according to taxation," and scheme has been wrecked. The Commission it must be obvi- as that this would be a mist ask that the administration of the Public dangerous principle to admit into the govern Health and Building Ordinancs be entirely ment of this Colony. There is no need to seperate from the Public Works Department. I labour that point It will bear thinking over. His Excellency the Governor says that the The Comisioners will probably say that the
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that the charges should be dismiss and that Judge Wilfi-y is entitled to high credit and ommendation for his conduct in office.
Street. Yaumati. The house was completely gutted nad a woman aged about 50 and a child Another three years old were barut to death wʊman was badly scorched and was sent to the hospital, The stock of the shop was insured ommercial Insurance Com. for $1,500 in the pany The cause of the outbreak and the extent of the damage bare not yet ben ascertained. The Yaumati Fire Brigade was in attendance,