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I propose that the Principal Medical Officer! should visit that asylum and report upon it, and if it is in every way satisfactory I will ask this flanatil to give a small grant to the asylum in recognition of the benefit they have conferred upon us by receiving these lunatics from our bands. There does not therefore appear to be any necessity to discuss the question of the lunatic asylum in so far as the Chinese are con. corned. As regards the Europeans, the opinion expressed by the Medical Officer in charge of the Government Civil Hospital is that he does not think that the surroundings will very much affect the class of patient who goes there, because they are all imbeciles. He, however, informed me that the presence of a noisy maniac is likely to upset European patients, and he suggested au extension of the asylum. The hon. member representing the Chamber of Commerce, how- ever, suggests two solutions to the question. One is that we should return the Innatics to their own country. That we endeavour of course to do as soon as possible. The other is that we should have a new site and a new asy- lum. It is very difficult to decide whether it would be possible to have a new site for the mere handful of Europeans we have in the asylum as permanent inmates. It would involve great cost, and probably it would involve the medical officor engagement of an extra who would be solely in charge of that asylum. However, as I
said, the have matter is receiving my attention, and I will bear in mind what has been said by the hon. member in his speech to-day. I now come to the criticisms which have been passed on the Public Works Department, but this gentlemou is, I think, toa large a question and too serious a one to be treated as a mere side issue in a debate of this sort. The hon. member, speaking on behalf of the other unofficial members, demands that a commission of inquiry should be appointed. I think that a commission of inquiry is a very usoful and often an indispensable form of in- stituting reforms. It is also undeniably con- venient if misused for shifting the respon- sibility from the shoulders of those
to the shoulders ought to undertake it of unofficial members who have little time to sift evidence of the work of & com. plicated department I think that a commission is very often regarded by the general public as a sort of bogey man which is very useful and can be invoked to expose the secrets of adminis- trative action. If bribery, peculation, secret commissions, favouritis or anything of that sort is alleged a commission is an excellent moral searchlight and most useful. I am glad to say that in British colonies, however it is seldom that charges of that sort are brought against any department. If they are, it is a terror to officialdom. If they are not, then a commission of inquiry is most heartily welcomed, because it gives officials so opportunity of publicly proving how they bavo endeavoured to serve the public and how often they have been mistaken by eriticism which has been based on insufficient information. The only thing they regret is that the examination of witnesses aud the pre- paration of documents involves generally s0 anch time that it throws them into arrears in their work, and, as you know, the Public Works Department is always engaged in the Sisyphean, task of trying to overtake arrears. That is the departmental view. It is my business to view this question from a different standpoint. How far am I justified in asking the unofficials to do a work for which 1 am largely responsible? How far also are the researches likely to be valuable! to compensate for the time given to the work? There are several matters in connection with the Public Works Department with which I
who
have long been dissatisfied. I am speaking now of a system which has been consecrated in this and other colonies for a long period. I am not speaking of the able, conscientious and i hard working and efficient Director of Pablic Works, in whom I have the utmost confidence and in whom I had it from my predecessor in office my predecessor had the greatest confidence. The points on which I have felt dissatisfaction with the system I will briefly enumerato. In the first place, in the conduct of large public works such as the railway. I have already spoken on this subject in this Council, so I will! not speak at any length now, because it is nota matter in which this Colony or any other colony has any personal voice. The second point is the system under which contracts are let in works of secondary magnitude such as the typhoon refuge, the Kowloon reservoir, the Law Courts, and works of that kind. Very large tenders are let to a contracter who, I understand, frequently sub-lets them, and again they are sub-let. In many cases even during my short experience here the original contractor has failed, and his security has not been enough to cover his liabilities. Any additions or alterations made in the tenders vitiate the contract, and generally litigation or arbitration frequently adverse to the Government follows. I discused this matter only a few days bofore his death with the late Colonial Secretary, and he expressed the same views to me, and I had decided to go fully into the question, and only deferred doing so until we got the pressure of work in connection with the estimates cut of the way. In any case I intend to go into it before the contract for Tytam Tuk is lot. Another matter is the accumulation of Public Works stores, which is subject to deterioration, while it costs a great deal in stocktaking and occupies valuable godown space. This has already been dealt with and a limit has been fixed. The fourth point, which I recognised some time ago, is that there should be some mea- sure of decentralisation in the Department itgolf. The Head of the Department is overweighted, but what form that decentralisa tion should take is a matter demanding very close examination and inquiry. There again I have deferred detailed investigation until the estimates should be passod. Each of these subjects is a very large one, and if the system is at fault I think we can put it down to the fact that the Colony's progress has been at such rate that it has outgrown systems. As I said before, I propose without any delay to investi gate this subject, collect facts, and formulate my own views upon it. When I have done that I shall probably ask several unofficial members of this Council to assist on a commission if that should be necessary. In any case I will give the Legislative Council & full opportunity of discussing clear issues. You will remember that a commis-iou sat some too years ago. It took five and a half months to report, and as I understand its report did not greatly satisfy everyone. I have read it, and it appear to me to sum up in a word that the staff of the department was ius ficient. That, of course, means additional cost. It seems to me that to have a useful report we ought to have the views of an expert from India or other colony who has himself had experience in a similar dep rtment and can point out where ours is less well managed and can suggest improvement. That, however, again would be costly. The hon, wember who spoke first raised the question of the costribu- tion given by the Imperial Government on behalf of the loss to this Colony opium. A copy of this debate with the views expressed by the hon. member, as also those expressed by the senior unofficial
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