THE GOVERNOR OF HONGKONG TO THE EARL OF CARNARVON.
GOVERNMENT House, HONGKONG, 5th December, 1877.
MY LORD,--I have the honour to lay before Your Lordship copies of two letters from Mr. PRICE the Surveyor General recommending the employment of a Chief Gardener named CERNEAU to take charge of the Government Gardens in this Colony. Mr. PRICE also recommends the abolition of the Office of Superintendent of the Government Gardens now held by Mr. FORD who is in England on leave of absence.
2. As Mr. FORD had availed himself of the leave of absence before my arrival, and as I have not had the advantage of any personal knowledge of him, I referred Mr. PRICE's letters to the Colonial Secretary, Mr. GARDINER AUSTIN, who made the following minute upon them :----
"I have long been of opinion that the Public Gardens such as we have here and the clothing of the hills with trees on sanitary grounds and for ornamental purposes did not require a Superintendent of Mr. FORD's high capabilities. I think therefore that the opportunity which now presents itself of the employment of a Foreman who will work all day with the Coolies and give the Gardens that practical form of supervision which is required should not be lost, and I beg to recommend Mr. PRICE's suggestion to the favourable consideration of your Excellency."
3. Assuming that arrangements can be made by which no injustice will be done to Mr. FORD--- who, as far as I can ascertain, is fitted for a far higher post than the one he holds in Hongkong--I should be glad if Your Lordship would authorize me to comply with Mr. PRICE'S Suggestions.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord,
Your most obedient Servant,
J. POPE HENNESSY.
The Right Honourable
The EARL OF CARNARVON, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
THE SURVEYOR GENERAL TO THE ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY.
No. 116.
SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, 8th October, 1877.
SIR, I have the honour to enclose a translation of a letter from Mr. E. DE LAGRENÉ, the French Consul at Canton, recommending me a working gardener who has been many years in positions of trust and responsibility, and who is said to possess very high testimonials from former employés. He is at present in charge of the grounds of the French Legation at Pekin, but is leaving at the expiration of his contract owing to economical reductions of personnel by the French Foreign Office.
2. As it rarely happens in this part of the world that one hears of a professional person of this kind possessing the attainments of a Chief Gardener and at the same time sufficiently devoid of pretension to be able to train garden coolies in their practical duties by the example of his own personal labour, I deem it desirable to bring to the knowledge of the Government, in the event of its being able to avail itself of it, the opportunity now offering of securing the real class of man so long required for the Gardens here, and whose wages would not be much more than those of an ordinary Overseer of Works in this Department.
3. With regard to the Office of Superintendent of Gardens and Plantations, I would desire briefly to point out that, as the unfavourable geology and abrupt, mountainous character of the Island preclude its economic cultivation either for food purposes or for export trade of any kind, and as there are no agricultural or pastoral interests to promote, there is not the same necessity in Hongkong that exists with the neighbouring people of the Straits and Australia for a special botanical horticulturist of high professional aspirations. In those countries, land and forest, measuring by thousands of square miles, impart to botanical questions, especially the acclimatisation of foreign commercial plants, a state importance, which can never be the case with us who have no cultivable land, and who do not aim at more than an attractive Public Garden as a pleasure resort for the people, and the shading of roads and clothing of hills with trees as a measure of public health.
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