18
19.
238
select the
Officers
and to
the
manage
loyally carry
details of the Fire Brigade at Hongkong.
I need scarcely state that I shall
loyally
the
*thing
tomwother J
out that this despatch, doubtless through inadvertence of the writer,-
Scharate.
(1.) Completely ignores the Statute Law of the Colony, which vests the entire control of the Fire Brigade in the Governor in Council,
(2.) Appears to insinuate that I had appointed M. Wodehouse to be Superintendent without due consideration whether he could perform his duties efficiently.
This unfounded insinuation (which might, I submit, have been spared in the case of a Governor of my position and long service), is amply refuted by my despatch No. 40, (to which the Colonial Office despatch No124 professes to reply), which proves that I had given full consideration to all the circumstances of the case; and also by this present despatch.
June
out every decision of the Secretary of State. The Governors of Crown Colonies have no right of patronage whatever, according to the Colonial Regulations, in places exceeding one-hundred pounds (£100) in annual value. As I have already reported, I intend to dispense all such patronage by means of Competitive examinations on the English system. The Office of Superintendent of the Fire Brigade is worth (as we have seen) one hundred and seventy pounds (£170); and, in reporting my nomination of Mr. Wodehouse