Appointments- Inspectorships of prisons
Auditor General &c
Police appointments. Postmaster Generalship, Some would say that these should or some of them should be filled from outside. I think that they should be filled from within & that, if training is necessary, the officer should be sent on leave for some months to learn business at the Audit Office, the GPO etc. It is not only special knowledge that is required. There is required also such administrative training as a cadet gains in a Crown Colony & knowledge of languages gained in a large Colony.
The smaller the colony, the more necessary it is that the Government service should be as inclusive as possible. This specially applies to HongKong.
As to the outsiders' claims, we have, I am told, Capt Hastings, having been appointed to a special post- Assist: Harbour Master complaining that he was not warned that there was a Cadet service! and I have another instance, that of a Mr Wood who, having been specially selected in England for appointment as Accountant to the Public Works Dept in Hongkong, lately petitioned Mr Chamberlain complaining, among other points, that when he accepted his post, he had no knowledge of the existence of the cadet system!
As regards the Postmaster Generalship of Hongkong, what Capt Hastings can say for himself is this. He is, as far as I know, a worthy officer who has done a good deal of work outside his nautical duties, he is at present detached from them now, When he is otherwise provided for we mean to try & do without an Assistant Harbour Master. Moreover, the late Postmaster General was not a cadet but the second man who had been seriously considered had entered the service of the colony.
I Mitchell Innes has retired. The Governor recommends Mr Smith to be Treasurer and Mr A M Thomson to be Postmaster General as a clerk.
On the other hand, I do not think that Capt Hastings has any special knowledge whatever of Post Office work. I conceive that a cadet has a stronger claim; the cadet being a distinct Member of the cadet service.
The Governor proposes for it Mr Sercombe Smith is specially meritorious; I do not think there is any pressing necessity for abolishing...