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Land Officer he is only so styled because the Land Office is
a Sub-department of the Registry of the Supreme Court. The Re- gistrar has his own duties to perform and renders no assistance in the actual work of the Land Office of which he personally knows nothing.
There is besides the further consideration that
Mr. Bruce Shepherd is already of pensionable age and that if he took his pension now there is no officer in the Government Service who could be appointed in his place who has the requi- site technical knowledge to enable him to perform the work. In such an event the work of the Land Office would come to a
standstill.
4. I therefore recommend that I may be autho-
rised to appoint an Assistant Land Officer. Should you approve,
I have the honour to request that an officer may be selected
at home who has a practical knowledge of conveyancing and that he may be provided with a passage to the Colony as soon as possible.
The training and experience of a conveyancing Clerk in a Solicitor's Office is of the kind that would best qualify an officer for the post, and as it is desirable that the candidate should have had sufficient experience to enable him to fill Mr. Bruce Shepherd's place within the next year or two I recommend a salary of $3,600 (with exchange compensa- tion) for the post.
5. If you approve of the appointment I shall proceed to ask the Legislative Council to vote the necessary
funds