Far from being satisfied with this letter, I am just skipping over it, assuming that the despatch of the 21st April, 1893, which has crossed this one, shows that Lord Ripon thinks differently.
Green cannot have considered it necessary to recur to store and balance his accounts, or to comply with Circular No. Crummers' enquiries, or to find out how something was conducted in his Department. In the Eastern Colonies, where the subordinate clerks are often half-breed Portuguese and frequently dishonest (and specially so when they are speculating), we ought to have Colonial Treasurers and Heads of departments who are not only honest but who can keep their Departments properly worked.
Further, I assumed that "the system working" was a check in itself. Supposed to be an intelligent person, Jones does not seem to have done so with great rapidity, and the public is ill-served. And yet, when comfort has itself selected and expatiated on such a person, and Land on him, it is degrading to plead stupidity as an excuse, but in the face of direct documentary proof to the contrary, it is maintainable.
I do not think that half a dozen men in the outside Colonial service, quite competent for the duties of Treasurer, who could have taken the post at a lower salary, were available. In the closed preserve of Hong Kong, there was no doubt the next suitable man for the post, and this at his proper rate of pay under the circumstances of his appointment.
It would seem that the Colony might have been better and cheaper served if an outsider had been selected. In relation to the Hong Kong service severally, I cannot see that he...
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