і
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{
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officer. from the Police Department and to make the Dis-
trict Officer a separate appointment with an Assistant
District Officer in lieu of an Assistant Land Officer.
This change would not in the remotest degree sever the
Administration of the New Territories from the Central
Authority (Vide C.0.Despatch of 6th. January, 1899). In
my experience however it tends to efficiency and to ecor-
omy in clerical work, where a primitive people are concern-
od, to concentrate various functions in the hands of one
man.
By this means rural villagers in accordance with
their traditional usages are enabled to refer all matters
to a single authority and the machinery of Administration
is simplified.
7.
But if from the point of view of
commanding the confidence of the population and of adapting
the scheme of Government to their needs, the change is de-
sirable, it is much more so from the point of view of faci-
litating administration.
The distances between the vil-
lages situated in the extreme East and West of the New Ter-
ritories is very considerable and for the most part the
communications consist only of tortuous native paths, dif-
ficult to ride on and impossible for bicycles. If the
District Officer visits a district in the extreme Fast and
is temporarily detached from his headquarters he is entirely
out