104
CORRESPONDENCE
impossible to go on in the irregular manner heretofore pursued, and to render such accounts as the instructions from their Lordships order.
I have, however, endeavoured to prepare the requisite quarterly forms, and the Auditor here has passed them as correct, in their detailed payments, as well as in their balances; and when the whole correspon- dence is before their Lordships, I humbly hope that it will be seen that I have endeavoured to fulfil my duty, and at the same time offer no obstruction to the exigencies of the public service.
WITH THE TREASURY,
105 527
clerk, and having only had one efficient chief clerk here since my arri- val, and he died in a few weeks*, by unceasing labour I have been enabled to put in my annual account (of which a copy was trans- mitted to you by last mail, as also my December quarterly account), and the accounts for the present quarter complete, and within the given
time.
I inclose, also, two statements showing the revenue and disburse- ments of the colony during the past year, with the exceptions noted at the bottom of each statement.
I have, &c.,
R. M. MARTIN.
I have, &c.,
R. M. MARTIN.
Sir,
No. XI.-To C. E. Trevelyan, Esq., Secretary to the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury.
H. M. Treasury, Hong Kong,
April 19, 1845.
I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith, for the information of the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, a copy of my quarterly account for this colony, up to 31st day of March, 1845.
It will be seen that this account includes the payments made in January, 1845, for the quarter ending 31st December, 1844; and that it also includes the payments due for the quarter ending 31st March, 1845, which, under the special orders of the Governor, I was obliged to pay before the termination of the quarter, viz., during the last week in March.
In consequence of payments being made three and four times in the quarter to each department, instead of once and finally; and in conse- quence of the forms ordered by the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury being, to a great extent, set aside, the vouchers are very voluminous and complex. I have endeavoured to comply with the orders I have re- ceived here from the Governor; and I trust their Lordships will exonerate me, having, much to my regret, been compelled to set aside the positive instructions of their Lordships, whereby much unnecessary labour and great anxiety has been incurred.
Notwithstanding the constant illness, absence, and changes of my
Sir,
No. XII.-To C. E. Trevelyan, Esq., Secretary to the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury.
H. M. Treasury, Hong Kong, May 19, 1845.
I WAS favoured on 18th instant with your communication of 7th February, acknowledging the receipt of a copy of my Report on Chusan.
I shall be gratified if that report, and also my Report on Hong Kong, be found useful.
Every day I am more and more fully impressed with the error of our present policy; and grieve over the misplacement and waste of national resources, and of individual energy. But there are too many persons interested in the present state of things to induce a hope that the expenditure here will be reduced, or that another and better position for our commerce will be sought in China. The Governor intends, I understand, to stop here five years, by which time it is expected he will have saved at least 30,000l., as he does not spend the interest of his salary as Governor. Others have houses or land here, or
* There were five chief clerks under me in the Colonial Treasury in twelve months. The first and second died; the third was Mr. Mercer, the relative and private secretary of the Governor, who was succeeded by Capt. Dernham (recom. mended to Governor Davis from England), formerly commanding an opium vessel on the coast of Formosa, where he was wrecked; he retired, knowing little of accounts. And the fifth, M. Comelati, an amiable Italian gentleman, a friend of Major-General D'Aguilar, was unable to make even a weekly cash abstract.