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Attorney-General and for the periods for which they discharged those duties the Colony incurred no liability for pension.
4.
The circumstances of this Colony are exceptional. There is a very great deal of important litigation, which gives employment to some six Barristers, two of whom are King's Counsel. The three leading Counsel are able to earn incomes variously estimated at from £3,000 to £4,000 per annum and I am informed that individual Barristers have made much larger incomes than these. Apart from any specialization in Commercial Law, knowledge of the Chinese character and their customs is of high value, together with the ability not easily acquired to distinguish between and to recollect Chinese names. In these circumstances it is clearly of advantage to the Government to be able to select one or other of the most prominent and successful men at the Local Bar, and to appoint him Attorney-General for he enters upon his work having already acquired the local knowledge and surmounted the local difficulties, and having gained the confidence of the Chinese. To these facts is to be attributed in some measure I presume the success recorded by the Committee of Messrs. Pollock and Sharp when acting Attorney-General.
No