Many heads of departments were absent from the Colony - illness interfered with the usefulness of others. We are now happily at peace, and I hope shall continue so and that my successor will be spared the anxieties which have surrounded me.
I am however strongly confirmed in one conclusion that it is impossible the public Service should not suffer if functionaries, especially the higher ones, are allowed to profit by private professional engagements. The enormous power and influence of the great Commercial Houses in China, when associated directly or indirectly with personal pecuniary advantages which they are able to confer on public Officers who are permitted to be employed and engaged by them, cannot but create a conflict between duties not always compatible with one another. The Colony is quite in a condition liberally to provide for its public servants, and to Her Majesty's Government and to the Colony alone ought they to look for remuneration of their services.
In reference to Colonial disputes, I cannot pass over in silence the great claims which Mr. Caldwell, the Registrar General, has upon Her Majesty's Government for rendering such...