It is proper to level at one of the most highly approved public servants this Colony has ever had. I do not content myself, with a secondary vindication. I have applied to His Honor Judge Hulme, for opinion upon those depositions which Mr. Austen had publicly assailed, and upon which he had charged a failure of the ends of Justice. I rely upon his Honor's answer enclosed; in which he is pleased to affirm that he has had no fault to find with my Depositions, and that there has been no failure of justice arising out of my investigations.
It now only remains for me to submit, with all deference, that the services thus enumerated, do fairly entitle me, by the routine established, to succeed my esteemed friend Mr. Hillier as the Head of this Magistracy. The duties of the Magistrates and Assistant Magistrates are so essentially the same, and the one and the other being constantly called upon to act as Chief, that disqualification for the one, assuredly involves that of the other. To accept the subordinate appointment in 1880, necessarily traversed all my pursuits in life, and committed my future destinies to the public service. I did so, cheerfully however, confiding in my claims to succeed by due routine to its higher honors and emoluments, having before my eyes Mr. Hillier's succession to his predecessor the present Lieutenant Governor.
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