No 158.
31907
30 UN 201
43
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG. 7th May, 1920.
Gut
25862/1
My Lord,
I have the honour to inform Your Lordship that I have had under consideration the necessity of strengthening the staff of the Public Works Department in connection with the erection and maintenance of Government Buildings. Considerable additions have been made recently to the number of Government buildings principally owing to the decision of Government to
provide quarters for its staff and in addition several old buildings have recently been acquired in connection with improvement schemes which require a considerable amount of supervision. It is, therefore, desirable that an officer should be appointed as Surveyor of Buildings, who will be able to relieve the Architectural Staff of a great number of minor duties which absorb so great a portion of their time so that they may be able to devote themselves to the design and erectior of the numerous new buildings which are foreshadowed.
An opportunity has arisen of securing the services of Mr. S. Hamer, who was formerly in the Public Works Department for over six years and who was then transferred to
the Imports and Exports Office as Supervisor and Accountant, his appointment to that post being approved in Mr. Long's despatch No.102 of the 23rd May, 1917. Mr. Hamer resigned his appointment on the 31st August, 1919, and entered a commercial
firm at a much higher salary than he is ever likely to receive
in Government service, but he has found the anxieties of
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
VISCOUNT MILNER, G.C.B.,
&C..
&c.,
&c.