288
4.
As, moreover, this was entirely independent of the work done in the way of visits paid to the different vessels personally by the various officers of the Department, and I have every reason for thinking that duty to have been carried on zealously and satisfactorily, your Ladship will perhaps feel that I have not unduly increased the Staff of the Harbor Department, which still stands reported in my Despatch No. 179 of the 29th ultimo, with the exception of one Chinese Clerk, whom the pressure of business compelled me temporarily to add.
3
I shall not, however, be able to report for some months the real amount of knowledge to