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Surveyor General there is in receipt of a salary of £1500 with certain allowances which I understand notably enhance that sum, while his duties bear no comparison with mine inasmuch as all works in Singapore itself are under the exclusive control of the Engineer to the Municipality of that place. In Hong Kong, however, in addition to his onerous duties of an equally municipal character the Surveyor General is charged with the sole care of the City in regard to its drainage and Sewerage, paving, lighting, water supply, and sanitary administration.
5. In this Colony the Attorney-General, the Crown Solicitor, the Colonial Surgeon, and other professional officers are allowed the benefit of private practice, but the Surveyor General is debarred from this privilege, and if it were conceded to him it would assuredly more than double and perhaps treble his income. Such a concession, however, it must be confessed would be undesirable as an Engineer of ordinary ability could soon acquire a practice that would be likely to engross the greater portion of his time.