€10.1959
satisfaction to many
the whole Matter
Long
months ago.
ajo,
Yo, bend
"
D. 181.
Baving been now in
dead and buried in shaprast,
fail to see what
what further and was to
be attained by the revival at this
particular junctive, of a defamation, attack
upon myself of so old a date, unless
it was to
I can
injure my
character. As
Conceive No other
No other object and
As I have been debarred from auf
opportunity of affording explanations in refutation of the Ford's unworthy charges before
then
Appearance in print, &
Jam
Now Reluctantly Compelled to seek
Com Lordships protection.
I have the honour to be
Your
My Lord
our Lordships Most obedient Servant
INRic
Surveyor General.
€. O.
16947
575
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 1ST JULY, 1880,
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Report of the Superintendent of Gardens and Plantations is published for general information.
By Command,
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 26th July, 1880.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GARDENS AND PLANTATIONS.
BOTANICAL GARDENS,
16th October, 1879.
SIR,-In reference to the proposed changes in forest management, I have the honour to submit, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, 1st, a history of the Gardens Department since 1871; 2nd, remarks on forest work; and 3rd, deductions arrived at from experience in departmental management.
1.--HISTORY OF THE GARDENS DEPARTMENT.
I found the
2. I was appointed in March, 1871, and arrived in Hongkong in the following June. gardens nominally, and actually in some particulars, in control of the Surveyor General, in which state, in consequence of the absence from the Colony of His Excellency the Governor, it remained for seven months, ..., until February of the following year, when Sir RICHARD G. MACDONNELL, having arrived from leave in England, informed me that when I was being appointed he had particularly interested himself in the appointment, and personally requested Sir JOSEPH (then Dr.) HOOKER to nominate a candidate that should be competent to take over the entire charge of the gardens and tree-planting as a separate department. Consequently we were detached from the Survey Department, and I find that the first letter from me, as the head of my own department, was addressed to the Colonial Secretary on February 7th, 1872. Soon afterwards, Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL appointed a Garden Committee, consisting of five gentlemen, which existed until the beginning of 1877. The Survey Department was invested with the execution of the new earthworks, drains and walls then in progress in the gardens.
3. Mr. PRICE was appointed Surveyor General on January 1st, 1873, nearly twelve months after the gardens and tree-planting had existed as a separate department; and he arrived in this Colony sometime between the end of July and beginning of November, when I was away in North China. Mr. FALCONER acted for me during my absence, and during that time Mr. PRICE objected to carry on the works in the gardens until my return, when, on my recommending certain works to be done in the gardens, Mr. PRICE commenced a movement for the object of securing more power in garden management. The particulars of this, and Sir ARTHUR F. KENNEDY's memos., will be found on CSO No. 8209, which resulted in Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY's instructions on CSO No. 3602.
4. Mr. PRICE in his remarks contained in CSO No. 8209 refers to “angry misunderstandings and confusion which occurred." In reference to this I may here mention what this referred to. MCHARDY, the Acting Surveyor-General, sent a gang of coolies into the gardens to dig up bamboos for planting in one of the streets. This was done without my knowledge, and in opposition to Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL'S instructions in reference to my separate department. When I became aware of this intrusion, I protested against it and requested Mr. McHARDY to withdraw his coolies. During the time that Mr. MowSAN was Surveyor General he and I were on the most friendly terms, although we both admitted the unfitness of the gardens, &c., being attached to the Survey Department. The "confusion" of two persons disbursing one vote was only a temporary one, in consequence of the unbusiness-like state of affairs then in existence while the New Garden was being formed, but such a thing need not have been had the Superintendent been invested with his own legitimate work of being entirely responsible for the laying out of the grounds, and the formation of walks and drains, as this is nothing more than is expected and performed by the managers of large garden establishments in England and elsewhere.
5. I never heard that Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL consulted his Executive Council in reference to the separation of the gardens and tree-planting from the Survey Department.
6. On the eve of my departure for England I received a letter, of which the following is a copy, *on another change in garden management.
SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, 3rd February, 1877.
DEAR SIR,-With reference to the future supervision of the Gardens and Plantations, I am directed to acquaint you before your departure, that His Excellency the Governor in Council has been pleased to resolve, upon a representation made by myself some weeks ago, to cancel the orders contained in CSO No. 3602 of 1873, and which have hitherto been in force, and to re-establish the integrity of the Public Works Department of this Colony by restoring to its legitimate supervision the work which had for the last four years been estranged from it, and transferred to a body of gentlemen known as the Garden Committee,
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