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sufficiently manned to meet all eventualities, and it is not only on account of leave that transfers of the officers referred to are necessary they are constantly
being made: but the estimates cannot be altered from day to day to show these changes. We cannot therefore foresee the requirements of next year with precision; with the result that for want of a better heading we have to leave officers, about whose future posts there is any uncertainty, debited to the Departments in which they last served or are now serving. All this may be very misleading, e.g. under the Colonial Secretariat, will be seen that nine Cadet Officers have to be
included, whereas actually only four are working in the
Department.
In passing I invite attention to the Abstract
It
it
of Differences which has been circulated. provides much information that is now valuable, but it will be of greater use in future years, unless the form of the Estimates undergoes still further changes.
I do not propose to deal with all the
alterations in staff, as the footnotes have been made very full, and it is hoped that this will make the position clear. But there are certain changes to which special reference is desirable, in amplification of the
footnotes.
A number of retirements in the senior ranks
of the Cadet Service are expected during the next year
or