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mentioned as eligible, and as it is possible that the post may become permanently vacant, in which case your Lordship would very likely feel disposed to confer the acting appointment, I would respectfully venture to submit that my claims to the acting appointment exceeded those of Dr. Stewart, and that any rival claims should at any rate have been mentioned to the Governor and considered.
Without advancing any claim on the ground of superior qualifications, I would nevertheless point out that I am sufficiently eligible for the post to be competent to fill it, and that by his past action in connection with this office Dr Stewart has forfeited his right to the place until other claimants have been disposed of.
The permanent post on its present footing was offered to Dr Stewart by your Lordship's predecessor in 1881, and was deliberately declined by that gentleman, and it is on record that it was consequent on that refusal that he was instructed to offer it first to Mr Russell and then to me.
The post which Dr Stewart desired and which he obtained was Police Magistrate. The other Police Magistrate was