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2.
Two alternatives to this method were in the mind of Sir Matthew Nathan, of which one was to appoint the Assistant Land Officer instead of the Assistant Superintendent of Police at Taipo, Collector of Revenue; and the other was to appoint an Assistant Collector of Revenue of the status of an Inspector of Police, with a salary of £180 to £225 per annum with triennial increments of £15, to do the supervision of collection and accounts for which allowances to Police Sergeants in the New Territories, amounting to $2,400, have been provided in the 1907 Estimates.
3. To both these alternatives the following objections have been advanced and are equally applicable, viz.:- that a single Officer could not conduct the daily checks which are deemed to be essential to prevent defalcation by the Chinese Shroffs who receive the revenue; that the collection of revenue could not be simultaneously carried on throughout the New Territories; and that delay in the collection would result.
4. If collection were not made simultaneously in each district, it would probably cause dissatisfaction were the people in one district called upon