Z
of the Executive Council.
The Minutes of the last Council were
read and approved.
Consideration was given
to the following Memorandum by His Excellency
The Governor, which had been previously
sent round to Members:
"Memorandum by The Governor
upon Mr Gunthorpe's
Case
About the beginning of January Mr Newman, the acting Harbor
Master, was obliged by illness to absent himself from his office, to
which, with the exception of an occasional
visit for less than an hour each time,
he never returned. He does not in fact
appear to have been at Office after the
20th January. In February he was absent from the Colony for
some time at Macao; and having returned late
on the 21st of the same month, he died
on the 5th March.
During Mr Newman's absence
from the office the charge of the Department devolved on Mr Gunthorpe (the acting Chief Clerk and the next Officer in Seniority) until the 27th of February when, in consequence of complaints received by the Government
as to the unsatisfactory state of the