Shepherd was appointed the transfer of this office to the Supreme Court had not been considered or proposed.
No one qualified for this post could be found in the Colony, Mr Shepherd was appointed from home, and I think a very good selection has been made. He occupied the position of managing conveyancing Clerk in a firm in London. He is a man, not young, and has a wife and family.
If it had been known at the time of the appointment, that the office was to be placed under the supervision of the Registrar of the Supreme Court, it is possible that a younger man, and one of less experience and practice might have been chosen.
In that case, the inadequacy of salary might not have been raised so soon. After four years' experience of Hong Kong, I am not surprised at this application, and I can safely state that $2400 a year, plus $360 for quarters, is not a sufficient salary for M. Bruce Shepherd. He cannot possibly obtain anything of a decent house for $30 a month, and the cost of providing even the bare necessaries of life here, is so great that it must be a very difficult matter for him, with his family, to live on his salary.
I endorse what Mr Wise says in his letters of the 21st October, 1885, and 12th April, 1886, and I should be very glad if an increase of salary could be granted to Mr Shepherd, as I believe he deserves it.
I am quite sure that when the post was offered to him, he had no correct idea of the cost of living here; and he has performed his duties...