32
2.
16 the special,
In 1876
by.
rendered
the
new
the land it
cervices
----
surveying staff of this Department is carrying out surveys of the town induced me to represent to one of your predecessors in office the justice of allowing M. Dauby and the assistants a gratuity for the arduous work they had performed, but the Government feared precedent and did not view my proposal very favourably. I availed myself of the loud fees due to the Government, and drew the amount by the distribution of land fees were similarly distributed.
I was not long in discovering after my arrival in the Colony in 1873 that it was most undesirable the Surveyor General should derive any personal benefit from the sale of public lands, and I certainly would not have applied for the two sums mentioned in preceding paragraph but for the fact that it was widely known that the money was to go, not to myself, but to individuals who could have no possible interest in the land transactions of the Government.
I received $301.80 from the Colonial Treasury and divided the amount among the members of the land surveying staff of the Department in proportion to the value of the services each member had rendered to the Government. This occurred a second time in 1877, again on the occasion of the new Kowloon Surveys, when $588.50 was received for special services in connection with the surveys.
So far therefore as it affects myself personally, I see no reason why the recent prohibition of the Earl of Kimberley should not date from the present time instead of from a previous date.
Oo already stated, I have not drawn any further sums subsequently.