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be considered. I am surprised that they stop at some extraordinary early hour 10.30 I think. That is
a matter for negotiation with the Company.
LAND SALES
As regards land sales and the Building Covenant the Governuient recognises the difficult circumstances and wherever a man is obviously trying to carry out his covenant he will be treated leniently.
Circumstances differ in different cases and it is sometimes difficult to know how to deal with these matters. Every case is considered very carefully and certainly there is no intention of imposing heavy fines and penalties at present unless there is an absolute disregard of the building covenant altogether.
FIRE BRIGADE
The personnel of the Fire Brigade is certainly rather a serious thing. The pre- sent renumeration does not appear to attract and it has been decided to raise it with a view to bringing up the Asiatic portion of the staff. Whether it will be necessary to increase that of the Euro- pean officers has to be seen.
The ques- tion of station officers has been gone into very carefully and it was not considered necessary to increase the number. The only reason given for 80 increase of station officers is that one might fall sick. But the senior Chinese members of the staff are very efficient and have shown themselves so on many occasions.
BANYAN TREES
It is very sad to think that these ban- yan trees in Nathan Road will have to go sometime. It is recognised that they will have to go when the service of 'buses is started. They have been carefully counted by the Superintendent of the Botanical and Forestry Department and they will have to come down. They were planted when the full width of the road was not required and their roots are now all over the place. No one dislikes seeing trees removed more than I do but these trees constitute a danger. If the ran ches are lopped ou one side and not on the other it makes them unstable and it might mean an accident. There are 200 of them and they will have to go, but not at present. Their time will come when
commences.
we start strengthening the road and the thank hon. 'bus service members for their comments on the esti- mates. I am speaking for the last time in a Budget debate. We are all more or less in unity as regards the future pro- sperity of the Colony. (Applause.)
H.E. THE GOVERNOR Gentlemen, the Director of Public Works and the Colonial Secretary, in a speech which may be described as his swan song, have dealt with most of the points raised. There are, however, one or two on which I should like to say a few words, pre- facing them with the observation that if I had realised earlier that this was the last occasion on which the Colonial Secretary would probably attend a meet- ing of the Council I should have fore- stalled the remarks of the senior Chinese member. I did not realise that the Council would probably not meet again between my departure and that of the Colonial Secretary, and I should like at this point to take the opportunity of thanking him for the highly efficient manner in which he has served Colonial Secretary for some 14 years in this Colony and for the entirely adequate way in which he has taken the place of Governors during temporary absences.
JUNIOR CLERICAL SERVICE
as
To come to more immediate points. The hon. Senior Unofficial Member re- junior Clerical service separately. ferred to the question of classifying the The Colonial Secretary dealt with one point of view. Mr. Holyoak's point was that under the old system you could see the exact cost of a department. The answer is that you could not. At whatever figure of the estimates because the cost of the the cost came out it was not the figure
three months. If you will take the figure clerks was bound to change in two or
under a department in the estimates and add to it the figure given in the ap- pendix, you will get a very much nearer approximation of the truth. But the truth in these cases lies at the bottom of a deep well. The clerical service. grouped together saves considerable ex- penditure of time and stationery in the Treasurer's office and I confidently as- sure members that this change, for which I take entire responsibility, is a salutary and useful one.
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a
hon. member also mentioned the question of the abolition of the statistical department. I, like the hon. member and everybody else, am entirely unable to understand the enor- mous cost of this department, but it is perfectly obvious that the cost was far inore than we were justified in paying for statistics which apparently were not required for the commercial community who took no interest in them, and whose accuracy could not be guaranteed in any way whatever.
It may be possible, I understand, through
semi-official to provide agency
statistics equally valuable at a reasonable rate, and that question will be gone into. At the same time there is a matter in connection with this subject to which I am sorry to have to refer. There is no question that the necessity of providing these statistics gave rise to a great amount of abuse, In connection with these statistics, per- mits were required for exports, and I have it on evidence I cannot reject that the necessity of applying for these per- mits was used by clerks of that depart- ment for purposes of obtaining what is known as "squeeze." Had I known of this matter before I should have had an investigation made at once, and I shall certainly not consent to the reconstruc- tion of this department without that matter being investigated. I appeal to our Chinese colleagues to
urge their countrymen to bring such cases to the notice of the Government.
I am constantly receiving complaints of squeeze in the Government service, but no one will ever come forward and actually sign his name to a complaint. I cannot believe that these numerous complaints have no justification, but it is impossible for the Government to take action unless we can obtain clear evi- dence. I would ask the Chinese mem- bers to ask the Chinese Chamber of Com- merce to report any such cases at once.
MILITARY LANDS
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them. The only point Sir John Oakley no obligation on the military to leave
was asked to decide was, in the event what was a fair price to pay. If we do of our taking the land from the military, not take the land the question drops at once.
PORT DEVELOPMENT
The hon. member referred to the heavy cost of the Port Development Depart- ment. I think that the figures in the estimates do not quite indicate the exact facts of the case, because the heavy personal emoluments and other charges which amount to over $100,000 look high in comparison with the actual expendi ture on port works of $605,000. I must point out that the work of the Depart- ment includes the whole of the Praya Fast reclamation. There is only a very small proportion of the total cost that is the estimates, and if the whole cost of these the Government contribution included in works were included it would reduce the ratio of personal emoluments to the expen- diture of the department to a very low figure. Then you also have to take into account work in connection with the reclamation at North Point. I should strongly de- department under the Director of Public precate any suggestion of replacing this
Works because it would not effect any economy.
as
gineer precisely the salary that we should We are paying the Port En-
pay him
an assistant Director of Public Works and the staff of clerks and accountants would have to remain the same. I would remind hon. members that the main reason for the establish- ment of this Port Development Depart- ment was not that we had any doubt of the ability of the Director of Public Works to construct any works on the earth or in the water but simply because his time is employed so much on other matters that we thought we were not taking full advantage of his experience and abilities if he was tied down to work which might be done by other people. By relieving the Director of Public Works of the Port Development Depart- ment he is left at liberty to take more direct control over other matters. I think it would be a retrograde step to abolish
The hon. member referred to the un- fortunate postponement or cancellation of the military lands arrangement. The Oakley award was merely a statement of the amount of money which was to be the Port Development Department. paid if certain lands in the occupation and possession of the military were taken from them. There was no obliga- tion upon us to take these lands and
FIRE BRIGADE
The Hon. Mr. Bird's remarks about the Fire Brigade have been dealt with
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