Go to the favour (as I should like to have done) that his experience is altogether surveying or drawing. We should have the strongest ground possible for refusing his application for an Engineering place.
Secretly. If W. Halich were stained as Engineer, hor. Brown would have 4 Engineers highest class, both limited to one person engaged on land work, which is all he asks for. If, on the other hand, War Andlad is, as you suggest, appointed Law Surveyor specially, there will be less work for the Engineering Dept. and I do not see the necessity for an "Assistant Surveyor for Copper Legge General". With which would furnish Brown with one more man than he asks for (including clerks). Without such an appointment, Brown will have 3 more men than he needs.
While the Praya works will have a separate (additional) staff and the drainage and water supply will be entirely taken away from him. I do not see how he can want an "Assistant Surveyor General" unless (as I think is not improbable) he wants to rebuild Hong Kong.
Another reason for postponing for some years the question of an "Assistant Surveyor General" is that that officer would be a permanent and pensionable appointment over the heads of those who have just been appointed. You may have said to have no claim, but of Eu Cooper who is Senior Engineer, would this be deprived of all possibility of promotion?
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