in a semi-independent position owing to their distance from Headquarters.
5.
The salary of the Colonial Secretary is £1,500 per annum; that of the Attorney-General £1,500 per annum, while the Puisne Judge under the Sterling Scheme receives £1,300 a year. The duties of the Director of Public Works are not less arduous than those of the two first mentioned Officers and are more arduous than those of the Puisne Judge. In view of these facts I have after careful consideration formed the opinion that the salary assigned to the Director of Public Works is not commensurate with the responsibilities of his post relatively to the salaries drawn by the other principal Officers in the Colony, and I trust that with this fuller explanation of the grounds upon which the recommendation made in my Despatch of 1st April, 1908, were based Your Lordship will re-consider the decision contained in your Despatch under reply.
6.
Apart from the larger question of the salary which should be permanently assigned to the post of Director of Public Works, I would invite Your Lordship's consideration of the special circumstances of Mr. Chatham's case which I represented in my Despatch of 1st April,