was in hand large enough to be paid into the bank. The collection being practically finished in January, and there being no money to pay into the bank, the accounts were not checked throughout after that time.
In fact at the end of March the rent collection accounts were approximately correct, so far as could be seen without an examination of all the details: on March 28th. and April 8th. or 9th. sums of $282.80 and $432.80 were drawn as salary from the Treasury by the shroffs, after Ng Hung Fu had drawn these salaries from the money in hand; while on April 4th. the sum of $273.23 was paid in to Taipo and not accounted for by the shroff. These sums deducted from the estimated deficit of $1,092.15, leave a discrepancy of $113.32, which is not a large proportion of a total of $80,000 which had to be collected for the first time in full, and for whose collection no proper machinery existed.
When I first arrived at Taipo in December, 1905, to act as Assistant Superintendent of Police in the New Territories, no instructions were given to me, nor did I find any there, with reference to the collection of Crown Rent: in fact the Assistant Superintendent of Police had been giving such assistance in the collection of rent as he could in his Police capacity, and all ordinary questions concerning the Crown rent were in the hands of the Assistant Land Officer. I should add that no security was required from me or any previous officer acting in the post. About a month after my arrival instructions reached me that I was in fact acting as Collector in an official capacity and holding responsibility in the matter of collection: however the Assistant Land Officer still continued to communicate directly with Hongkong on matters connected with rent-collection, and when