The offices which come within the scope of the changes which I would propose, and which would certainly be beneficial to the community in general, are those of the
Chief Justice - salary $8,000 per annum
Attorney General - $6,000 per annum
Chief Magistrate - $3,000 per annum
Assistant Magistrate - $1,500 per annum (proposed to be increased to) $1,800 per annum (but later mentioned as) $1,000 per annum and then $600
The Chief Justice being the only judge in the Supreme Court, all civil and Criminal business must come to a stand still should he be incapacitated by sickness from the discharge of his duties. Such has actually been the case for at least ten weeks, with a probability of its continuance for at least another month, and with a limited Bar, as a Colonial one must always be, it is, I submit, disadvantageous
and inconvenient that the locum tenens of the Bench, when the necessity arises for such an appointment, should pass at once from the Bar without any training for his new duties. When a single judge was first appointed for this Colony the population did not amount to one sixth of its present number, and the fact that the Criminal Sessions have been increased from 4 times a year to twice & quarterly, will (not to mention many others easily adducible) show that the duties of the office have become much more numerous than they formerly were.
There are at present two Stipendiary Magistrates, the second of whom is also Sheriff, Coroner, and Marshal of the Vice Admiralty Court - a union of Offices such as, I presume, is not common in England.