were absolutely impossible for
charge of the Jail.
and Sheriff at my hands in my various capacities of Crown Solicitor, for one
question, and that the relative and amount of duties required (not to sustain speculation) was in my case entirely out of the
m
unassisted discharge of public duties, management of their business, pressed upon as I am in the
if any one would entrust to me the
private practice, even
me to undertake
their requirements, nor would it be possible for
my services at a time that I find myself utterly unable to meet the demands of Departments with which I am Connected will often require and advantages for working that I do not possess. The heads of four departments, each with facilities for their due discharge
previously to my entering upon them divided among three or four persons,
that the duties now required of me in these capacities were,
and I will here observe
an increase in the state of the Colony: Out of the number of inquests held, one or, perhaps at most, two distinct cases can be conceived attributable to the present crisis,
I have held five
777
may
while from the best information I have been able to obtain,
Cases are
less frequent now than in ordinary times;
The empanelling and service of summons upon Jurors (Civil Sessions being held once a month); Drafting Informations: Service of same upon prisoners (the copies being necessarily made in Chinese if the prisoners are Chinese); The preparation and service of Subpoena's upon witnesses in different parts of the Colony: The seeing that such witnesses and all necessary proofs are forthcoming when required, are duties which must press upon me whatever are the circumstances of the Colony,
out of this amount of £600, Memorialist calculated that he would have to pay about £200, for Office and Extra Assistance, and this was stated to his Excellency Sir John Bowring.
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I find my Salary wholly inadequate to the expensiveness of the place and my necessary support, putting out of the question the maintaining of a respectable position as a Government Official,
It will surely be sufficient for me to state that, after paying the rent of a small and inconvenient room (about Eight feet square)
In the transaction of public business solely, and after defraying Salary of a young lad, merely a copying Clerk and scarcely able to speak or understand a word of English, I have only £181 per annum to meet all other expenses for
myself here, and a large family at home, and I am at the present moment, utterly unable to pay a Bailiff (difficult to be procured except when steadily employed) for assisting in summoning 74 witnesses for the present sessions; this was now a month since I entered on the civil duties of Sheriff and the fees
in that time have not averaged Two Dollars per week, so that I can entertain little hope of assistance from that quarter.
I must, therefore, most respectfully beg you to move his Excellency to simplify my duties and to enlarge my means to a scale in some degree commensurate with my necessary Expenses and the usual standard of official salaries; What support and the due performance of public duty is, the provision by Government of at least one efficient Clerk; to increase my own Salary to £600 per annum. Even with this partial relief, I feel the absolute necessity for a Deputy to relieve me of the charge and responsibility of the Jail;
And to relieve...