It is impossible, as
there is not much other ground to offer him, and practically the considerations always
arise in
Jan 9/Jan/1908
But for the fact that it is desirable, or rather necessary, to remove Sir H. Berkeley -
I should not have thought of putting his name forward for promotion either to Ceylon or Hongkong.
For both these Chief Justiceships, which are in point of position the two best in the Colonial Service, wherever he goes, we have much stronger candidates. Now his brother will follow it; usual intrigues and agitations will begin. Whether he is not after all safer in Ceylon. But in my opinion, he should not be offered Hongkong, still less Ceylon.
COLONIAL OFFICE
H.B.L. 9 Jan'08
303
I think that to appoint Sir H. Berkeley to Hong Kong or Ceylon would be to pass over better men for a man with no strong claims, to pass over men because they have not given trouble in favor of one who has, and to place at the head of the Court of Justice in a first-class colony a Judge who, rightly or wrongly, has not won a first-class name.
I have thought that at all costs, and with entire disregard of his claims, he must be removed from Fiji.
C.P.L. 10 Jan'08